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THE 






HISTORY 

OF 

SILK, COTTON, LINEN, WOOL, 

AND OTHER FIBROUS SUBSTANCES ; 

INCLUDING OBSERVATIONS ON 

SPINNING, DYEING AND WEAVING, 

ALSO AN ACCOUNT OF THE 

PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS, THEIR SOCIAL STATE 
AND ATTAINMENTS IN THE DOMESTIC ARTS. 

WITH APPENDICES 

ON PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY ; ON THE ORIGIN AND MANUFACTURE 
OF LINEN AND COTTON PAPER J ON FELTING, NETTING, &C. 

DEDUCED FROM 

COPIOUS AND AUTHENTIC SOURCES. 



ILLUSTRATED- BY STEEL ENGRAVINGS. 



NEW YORK: 
HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF STREET. 



1845. 






t?& 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, 

BY HARPER & BROTHERS, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, 

for the Southern District of New York. 



9^7/7 



TO THE 



PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, 



THIS VOLUME 



IS RESPECTFULLY 



INSCRIBED. 



PREFACE, 



History, until a recent period, was mainly a record of gi- 
gantic crimes and their consequent miseries. The dazzling 
glow of its narrations lighted never the path of the peaceful 
Husbandman, as his noiseless, incessant exertions transformed 
the howling wilderness into a blooming and fruitful garden, but 
gleamed and danced on the armor of the Warrior as he rode 
forth to devastate and destroy. One year of his labors sufficed 
to undo what the former had patiently achieved through cen- 
turies ; and the campaign was duly chronicled while the labors 
it blighted were left to oblivion. The written annals of a na- 
tion trace vividly the course of its corruption and downfall, but 
are silent or meagre with regard to the ultimate causes of its 
growth and eminence. The long periods of peace and prosper- 
ity in which the Useful Arts were elaborated or perfected are 
passed over with the bare remark that they afford little of in- 
terest to the reader, when in fact their true history, could it now 
be written, would prove of the deepest and most substantial 
value. The world might well afford to lose all record of a hun- 
dred ancient battles or sieges if it could thereby regain the 
knowledge of one lost art, and even the Pyramids bequeathed 
to us by Egypt in her glory would be well exchanged for a few 
of her humble workshops and manufactories, as they stood in 
the days of the Pharaohs. Of the true history of mankind 
only a few chapters have yet been written, and now, when the 
deficiencies of that we have are beginning to be realized, we find 
that the materials for supplying them have in good part perish- 
ed in the lapse of time, or been trampled recklessly beneath the 
hoof of the war-horse. 

In the following pages, an effort has been made to restore a 
portion of this history, so far as the meagre and careless traces 



VI PREFACE. 

scattered through the Literature of Antiquity will allow. — Of 
the many beneficent achievements of inventive genius, those 
which more immediately minister to the personal convenience 
and comfort of mankind seem to assert a natural pre-eminence. 
Among the first under this head may be classed the invention 
of Weaving, with its collateral branches of Spinning, Netting, 
Sewing, Felting, and Dyeing. An account of the origin and 
progress of this family of domestic arts can hardly fail to inter- 
est the intelligent reader, while it would seem to have a special 
claim on the attention of those engaged in the prosecution or 
improvement of these arts. This work is intended to subserve 
the ends here indicated. In the present age, when the re- 
sources of Science and of Intellect have so largely pressed into 
the service of Mechanical Invention, especially with reference to 
the production of fabrics from fibrous substances, it is somewhat 
remarkable that no methodical treatise on this topic has been 
offered to the public, and that the topic itself seems to have al- 
most eluded the investigations of the learned. With the ex- 
ception of Mr. Yates's erudite production, " Textrinum Anti- 
quorum" we possess no competent work on the subject ; and 
valuable as is this production for its authority and profound re- 
search, it is yet, for various reasons, of comparative inutility to 
the general reader. 

That a topic of such interest deserved elucidation will not be 
denied when it is remembered that, apart from the question of 
the direct influence these important arts have ever exerted upon 
the civilization and social condition of communities, in various 
ages of the world, there are other and scarcely inferior consider- 
ations to the student, involved in their bearing upon the true 
understanding of history, sacred and profane. To supply, 
therefore, an important desideratum in classical archaeology, by 
thus seeking the better to illustrate the true social state of the 
ancients, thereby affording a commentary on their commerce 
and progress in domestic arts, is one of the leading objects con- 
templated by the present work. In addition to this, our better 
acquaintance with the actual condition of these arts in early 
times will tend, in many instances, to confirm the historic ac- 
curacy and elucidate the idiom of many portions of Holy Writ.. 



PREFACE. Vll 

How many of the grandest discoveries in the scientific world 
owe their existence to accident ! and how many more of the 
boasted creations of human skill have proved to be but restora- 
tions of lost or forgotten arts ! How much also is still being 
revealed to us by the monumental records of the old world, 
whose occult glyphs, till recently, defied the most persevering 
efforts of the learned for their solution ! 

To be told that the Egyptians, four thousand years ago, 
were cunning artificers in many of the pursuits which consti- 
tute lucrative branches of our modern industry, might surprise 
some readers : yet we learn from undoubted authorities that 
such they were. They also were acquainted with the fabrica- 
tion of crapes, transparent tissues, cotton, silk, and paper, as 
well as the art of preparing colors which still continue to defy 
the corrosions of defacing time. 

If the spider may be regarded as the earliest practical 
weaver upon record — the generic name Textorice, supplying 
the root from which is clearly derived the English terms, texture 
and textile , as applied to woven fabrics, of whatever materials 
they may be composed — the wasp may claim the honor of 
having been the first paper-manufacturer, for he presents us 
with a most undoubted specimen of clear white pasteboard, of 
so smooth a surface as to admit of being written upon with 
ease and legibility. Would the superlative wisdom of man but 
deign, with microscopic gaze, to study the ingenious move- 
ments of the insect tribe more minutely, it would not be easy 
to estimate how much might thereby be achieved for human 
science, philosophy, and even morals ! 

For those who love to add to their fund of general knowledge, 
especially in the department of natural history, the author 
trusts that much valuable and interesting information will be 
found comprised in those pages of this work which delineate 
the habits of the Silk-Worm, the Sheep, the Goat, the Camel, 
the Beaver, &c. ; while another department, being devoted to 
the history of the Pastoral Life of the Ancients, will naturally 
enlist the sympathies of such as take a deeper interest in the 
records of ages and nations long since passed away. From a 
mass of heterogeneous, though highly valuable materials, it has 



VU1 PREFACE. 

been the design of the author to select, arrange, and conserve 
all that was apposite to his subject and of intrinsic value. 
Thus has he endeavored to render the piles of antiquity, to 
adopt the words of a recent writer, well compacted — a process 
which has been begun in our times, and with such eminent suc- 
cess that even the men of the present age may live to see many 
of the thousand and one folios of the ancients handed over 
without a sigh to the trunk-maker. 

The ample domains of Learning are fast being submitted to 
fresh irrigation and renewed culture, — the exclusiveness of the 
cloister has given place to an unrestricted distribution of the in- 
tellectual wealth of all times. What civilization has accom- 
plished in the physical is also being achieved in the mental 
world. The sterile and inaccessible wilderness is transformed 
into the well-tilled garden, abounding in luxurious fruits and 
fragrant flowers. It is the golden age of knowledge — its Para- 
dise Regained. The ponderous works of the olden time have 
been displaced by the condensing process of modern litera- 
ture ; yielding us their spirit and essence, without the heavy, 
obscuring folds of their former verbal drapery. We want 
real and substantial knowledge ; but we are a labor-saving and 
a time-economizing people, — it must therefore be obtained by 
the most compendious processes. Except those with whom 
learning is the business of life, we are too generally ignorant 
of the mighty mysteries which Nature has heaped around our 
path ; ignorant, too, of many of the discoveries of science and 
philosophy, in ancient as well as modern times. To meet the 
exigencies of our day, a judgment in the selection and con- 
densation of works designed for popular use is demanded — a fa- 
cility like that of the alchymist, extracting from the crude ores 
of antiquity the fine gold of true knowledge. 

The plan of this work naturally divides itself into four de- 
partments. The first division is devoted to the consideration of 
Silk, its early history and cultivation in China and various 
other parts of the world ; illustrated by copious citations from 
ancient writers : From among whom to instance Homer, we 
learn that embroidery and tapestry were prominent arts with 
the Thebans, that poet deriving many of his pictures of domestic 



PREFACE. IX 

life from the paintings which have been found to ornament their 
palaces. Thus it is evident that some of the proudest attain- 
ments of art in our own day date their origin from a period co- 
eval at least with the Iliad. Again we find that the use of the 
distaff and spindle, referred to in the Sacred Scriptures, was al- 
most as well understood in Egypt as it now is in India ; while 
the factory system, so far from being a modern invention, was 
in full operation, and conducted under patrician influence, some 
three thousand years ago. The Arabians also, even so far back 
as five centuries subsequent to the deluge, were, it is stated on 
credible authority, skilled in fabricating silken textures ; while, 
at a period scarcely less remote, we possess irrefragable testi- 
mony in favor of their knowledge of paper made from cotton 
rags. The inhabitants of Phoenicia and Tyre were, it appears, 
the first^ acquainted with the process of dyeing: the Tyrian 
purple, so often noticed by writers, being of so gorgeous a hue 
as to baffle description. The Persians were also prodigal in 
their indulgence in vestments of gold, embroidery and silk : the 
memorable army of Darius affording an instance of sumptuous 
magnificence in this respect. An example might also be given 
of the extravagance of the Romans in the third century, in the 
fact of a pound of silk being estimated literally by its weight 
in gold. The nuptial robes of Maria, wife of Honorius, which 
were discovered in her coffin at Rome in 1544, on being burnt, 
yielded 36 pounds of pure gold ! In the work here presented, 
much interesting as well as valuable information is given under 
this section, respecting the cultivation and manufacture of Silk 
m China, Greece and other countries. 

The second division of the work, comprising the history of the 
'Sheep, Goat, Camel, and Beaver, it is hoped will also be 
found curious and valuable. The ancient history of the Cot- 
ton manufacture follows — a topic that has enlisted the pens of 
many writers, though their essays, with two or three exceptions, 
merit little notice. The subsequent pages embody many new 
and important facts, connected with its early history and prog- 
ress, derived from sources inaccessible to the general reader. 
The fourth and last division, embracing the history of the Linen 
manufacture, includes notices of Hemp, Flax, Asbestos, &c. 

B 



X PREFACE. 

This department again affords a fruitful theme for the curious, 
and one that will be deemed, perhaps, not the least attractive 
of the volume. Completing the design of the work, will be 
found the Appendices, comprising rare and valuable extracts, 
derived from unquestionable authorities. 

Of the Ten Illustrations herewith presented, five are en- 
tirely original. It is hoped that these, at least, will be deemed 
worthy the attention of the scholar as well as of the general 
reader, and that their value will not be limited by their utility 
as elucidations of the text. Among these, especial notice is re- 
quested to the engraving of the Chinese Loom, a reduced fac- 
simile, copied by permission from a magnificent Chinese produc- 
tion, recently obtained from the Celestial Empire, and now in 
the possession of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions in 
this city. Another, equally worthy of notice, represents an 
Egyptian weaving factory, with the processes of Spinning and 
Winding ; also a reduced fac-simile, copied from Champ olliorts 
great work on Egypt. The Spider, magnified with his web, 
and the Indian Loom, it is presumed, will not fail to attract at- 
tention. 

Throughout the entire work, the most diligent care has been 
used in the collation of the numerous authorities cited, as well 
as a rigid regard paid to their veracity. As a work so elaborate 
in its character would necessarily have to depend, to a consider- 
able extent, for its facts and illustrations, upon the labors of 
previous writers, the author deems no apology necessary in thus 
publicly and gratefully avowing his indebtedness to the several 
authors cited in order at the foot of his pages ; but he would 
especially mention the eminent name of Mr. Yates, to the fruits 
of whose labors the present production owes much of its novel- 
ty, attractiveness, and intrinsic value. 

New York, Oct. 1st, 1845. 



CONTENTS. 



PART FIRST. 

ANCIENT HISTORY OF SILK. 



CHAPTER I. 

SPINNING, DYEING, AND WEAVING. 

Whether Silk is mentioned in the Old Testament — Earliest Clothing — Coats of 
Skin, Tunic, Simla — Progress of Invention — Chinese chronology relative to the 
Culture of Silk — Exaggerated statements— Opinions of Mailla, Le Sage, M. 
Lavoisne, Rev. J. Robinson, Dr. A. Clarke, Rev. W. Hales, D.D., Mairan, 
Bailly, Guignes, and Sir "William Jones— Noah supposed to be the first empe- 
ror of China Extracts from Chinese publications — Silk Manufactures of the 

Island of Cos— Described by Aristotle— Testimony of Varro— Spinning and 
Weaving in Egypt — Great ingenuity of Bezaleel and Aholiab in the production 
of Figured Textures for the Jewish Tabernacle — Skill of the Sidonian women 
in the Manufacture of Ornamental Textures — Testimony of Homer — Great 
antiquity of the Distaff and Spindle — The prophet Ezekiel's account of the 
Broidered Stuffs, etc. of the Egyptians — Beautiful eulogy on an industrious 
woman— Helen the Spartan, her superior skill in the art of Embroidery — Golden 
Distaff presented her by the Egyptian queen Alcandra— Spinning a domestic 
occupation in Miletus— Theocritus's complimentary verses to Theuginis on her 
industry and virtue — Taste of the Roman and Grecian ladies in the decoration 
of their Spinning Implements— Ovid's testimony to the skill of Arachne in 
Spinning and Weaving— Method of Spinning with the Distaff— Described by 
Homer and Catullus— Use of Silk in Arabia 500 years after the flood— For- 
ster's testimony 1 

CHAPTER II. 

HISTORY OF THE SILK MANUFACTURE CONTINUED TO THE 4TH CENTURY. 

SPINNING, DYEING, AND WEAVING. HIGH DEGREE OF EXCELLENCE ATTAINED 

IN THESE ARTS. 

Testimony of the Latin poets of the Augustan age— Tibullus— Propertius— Virgil 
Horace Ovid— Dyonisius Perigetes — Strabo. Mention of silk by authors in 



Xll CONTENTS. 

the first century — Seneca the Philosopher — Seneca the Tragedian — Lucan — 
Pliny — Josephus — Saint John — Silius Italicus — Statius — Plutarch — Juvenal — 
Martial — Pausanias — Galen — Clemens Alexandrinus — Caution to Christian 
converts against the use of silk in dress. Mention of silk by authors in the 
second century — Tertullian — Apuleius — Ulpian — Julius Pollux — Justin. Men- 
tion of silk by authors in the third century — JElius Lampidius — Vopiscus — 
Trebellius Pollio — Cyprian — Solinus — Ammianus — Marcellinus — Use of silk by 
the Roman emperors — Extraordinary beauty of the textures — Use of water to 
detach silk from the trees — Invectives of these authors against extravagance in 
dress — The Seres described as a happy people — Their mode of traffic, etc. — 
(Macpherson's opinion of the Chinese.) — City of Dioscurias, its vast commerce 
in former times. — (Colonel Syke's account of the Kolissura silk-worm — Dr. 
Roxburgh's description of the Tusseh silk-worm.) .... 22 

CHAPTER III. 

HISTORY OF THE SILK MANUFACTURE FROM THE THIRD TO THE SIXTH 

CENTURY. 

SPINNING, DYEING, AND WEAVING. HIGH DEGREE OF EXCELLENCE ATTAINED 

IN THESE ARTS. 

Fourth Century — Curious account of silk found in the Edict of Diocletian — Ex- 
travagance of the Consul Furius Placidus — Transparent silk shifts — Ausonius 
describes silk as the produce of trees — Quintus Aur Symmachus, and Claudian's 
testimony of silk and golden textures — Their extraordinary beauty — Pisander's 
description — Periplus Maris Erythreei — Dido of Sidon. Mention of silk in the 
laws of Manu — Rufus Festus Avinus — Silk shawls — Marciannus Capella — In- 
scription by M. N. Proculus, silk manufacturer — Extraordinary spiders' webs — 
Bombyces compared to spiders — Wild silk-worms of Tsouen — Kien and Tiao- 
Kien — M. Bertin's account — Further remarks on wild silk-worms. Christian 
authors of the fourth century — Arnobius — Gregorius Nazienzenus — Basil — Il- 
lustration of the doctrine of the resurrection — Ambrose — Georgius Pisida — 
Macarius — Jerome — Chrysostom — Heliodorus — Salmasius — Extraordinary 
beauty of the silk and golden textures described by these authors — Their invec- 
tives against Christians wearing silk. Mention of silk by Christian authors in 
the fifth century — Pridentius — Palladius — Theodosian Code — Appolinaris Si- 
donius — Alcimus Avitus. Sixth century — Boethius. (Manufactures of Tyre 
and Sidon — Purple — Its great durability — Incredible value of purple stuffs 
found in the treasury of the King of Persia) 41 

CHAPTER IV. 

HISTORY OF THE SILK MANUFACTURE CONTINUED FROM THE INTRO- 
DUCTION OF SILK- WORMS INTO EUROPE, A.D. 530, TO THE FOURTEENTH 
CENTURY. 

A. D. 530. — Introduction of silk-worms into Europe — Mode by which it was 
effected — The Serinda of Procopius the same with the modern Khotan — The 



CONTENTS. Xlll 

silk-worm never bred in Sir-hind — Silk shawls of Tyre and Berytus — Tyran- 
nical conduct of Justinian — Ruin of the silk manufactures — Oppressive conduct 
of Peter Barsames — Menander Protector — Surprise of Maniak the Sogdian am- 
bassador — Conduct of Chosroes, king of Persia — Union of the Chinese and Per- 
sians against the Turks — The Turks in self-defence seek an alliance with the 
Romans — Mortification of the Turkish ambassador — Reception of the Byzan- 
tine ambassador by Disabul, king of the Sogdiani — Display of silk textures — 
Paul the Silentiary's account of silk — Isidorus Hispalensis. Mention of silk by 
authors in the seventh century — Dorotheus, Archimandrite of Palestine — In- 
troduction of silk-worms into Chubdan, or Khotan — Theophylactus Simocatta 
— Silk manufactures of Turfan — Silk known in England in this century — ■ 
First worn by Ethelbert, king of Kent — Use of by the French kings — Aldhel- 
mus's beautiful description of the silk -worm — Simile between weaving and vir- 
tue. Silk in the eighth century — Bede. In the tenth century — Use of silk by 
the English, Welsh, and Scotch kings. Twelfth century — Theodoras Prodro- 
mus — Figured shawls of the Seres — Ingulphus describes vestments of silk in- 
terwoven with eagles and flowers of gold — Great value of silk about this time — 
Silk manufactures of Sicily — Its introduction into Spain. Fourteenth century 
— Nicholas Tegrini — Extension of the Silk manufacture through Europe, illus- 
trated by etymology — Extraordinary beauty of silk and golden textures used in 
the decoration of churches in the middle ages — Silk rarely mentioned in the 
ninth, eleventh, or thirteenth centuries 66 

CHAPTER V. 

SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OF THE ANCIENTS. 
HIGH DEGREE OF EXCELLENCE ATTAINED IN THIS MANUFACTURE. 

Manufacture of golden textures in the time of Moses — Homer — Golden tunics of 
the Lydians — Their use by the Indians and Arabians — Extraordinary display 
of scarlet robes, purple, striped with silver, golden textures, &c, by Darius, 
king of Persia — Purple and scarlet cloths interwoven with gold — Tunics and 
shawls variegated with gold — Purple garments with borders of gold — Golden 
chlamys — Attalus, king of Pergamus, not the inventor of gold thread — Bostick 
— Golden robe worn by Agrippina — Caligula and Heliogabalus — Sheets inter- 
woven with gold used at the obsequies of Nero — Babylonian shawls intermixed 
with gold — Silk shawls interwoven with gold — Figured cloths of gold and Ty- 

rean purple — Use of gold in the manufacture of shawls by the Greeks 

4,000,000 sesterces (about $ 150,000) paid by the Emperor Nero for a Baby- 
lonish coverlet — Portrait of Constantius II. — Magnificence of Babylonian car- 
pets, mantles, &c. — Median sindones 84 

CHAPTER VI. 

SILVER TEXTURES, ETC., OF THE ANCIENTS. 
EXTREME BEAUTY OF THESE MANUFACTURES. 

Magnificent dress worn by Herod Agrippa, mentioned in Acts xii. 21 — Josephus's 
account of this dress, and dreadful death of Herod — Discovery of ancient Piece- 



XIV CONTENTS. 

goods— Beautiful manuscript of Theodolphus, Bishop of Orleans, who lived in 
the ninth century — Extraordinary beauty of Indian, Chinese, Egyptian, and 
other manufactured goods preserved in this manuscript — Egyptian arts — Wise 
regulations of the Egyptians in relation to the arts — Late discoveries in Egypt 
by the Prussian hierologist, Dr. Lepsius — Cloth of glass ... 93 

CHAPTER VII. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM, ETC. 

Preliminary observations — The silk-worm — Various changes of the silk-worm 
— Its superiority above other worms — Beautiful verses on the May-fly, illustra- 
tive of the shortness of human life — Transformations of the silk-worm — Its 
small desire of locomotion — First sickness of the worm — Manner of casting its 
Exuviae — Sometimes cannot be fully accomplished — Consequent death of the 
insect — Second, third, and fourth sickness of the worm — Its disgust for food — 
Material of which silk is formed — Mode of its secretion — Manner of unwinding 
the filaments — Floss-silk — Cocoon — Its imperviousness to moisture — Effect of 
the filaments breaking during the formation of the cocoon — Mr. Robinet's curi- 
ous calculation on the movements made by a silk-worm in the formation of a 
cocoon — Cowper's beautiful lines on the silk-worm — Periods in which its vari- 
ous progressions are effected in different climates — Effects of sudden transitions 
from heat to cold — The worm's appetite sharpened by increased temperature — 
Shortens its existence — Various experiments in artificial heating — Modes of ar- 
tificial heating — Singular estimate of Count Dandolo — Astonishing increase of 
the worm — Its brief existence in the moth state — Formation of silk — The silken 
filament formed in the worm before its expulsion — Erroneous opinions enter- 
tained by writers on this subject — The silk-worm's Will ... 98 

CHAPTER VIII. 

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHINESE MODE OF REARING SILK- 
WORMS, ETC. 

Great antiquity of the silk-manufacture in China — Time and mode of pruning the 
Mulberry-tree — Not allowed to exceed a certain height — Mode of planting — 
Situation of rearing-rooms, and their construction — Effect of noise on the silk- 
worm — Precautions observed in preserving cleanliness — Isan-mon, mother of 
the worms — Manner of feeding — Space allotted to the worms — Destruction of 
the Chrysalides — Great skill of the Chinese in weaving — American writers on the 
Mulberry-tree — Silk-worms sometimes reared on trees — (M. Marteloy's ex- 
periments in 1764, in rearing silk-worms on trees in France) — Produce inferior 
to that of worms reared in houses — Mode of delaying the hatching of the eggs 
— Method of hatching — Necessity for preventing damp — Number of meals — 
Mode of stimulating the appetite of the worms — Effect of this upon the quan- 
tity of silk produced — Darkness injurious to the silk-worm — Its effect on the 
Mulberry-leaves — Mode of preparing the cocoons for the reeling process — Wild 



CONTENTS. XV 

silk-worms of India — Mode of hatching, &c. — (Observations on the cultivation 
of silk by Dr. Stebbins — Dr. Bowring's admirable illustration of the mutual de- 
pendence of the arts upon each other.) . . . . 119 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE SPIDER. 
ATTEMPTS TO PROCURE SILKEN FILAMENTS FROM SPIDERS. 

Structures of spiders — Spiders not properly insects, and why — Apparatus for spin- 
ning — Extraordinary number of spinnerules — Great number of filaments com- 
posing one thread — Reaumur and Leeuwenhoeck's laughable estimates — At- 
tachment of the thread against a wall or stick — Shooting of the lines of spiders 
— 1. Opinions of Redi, Swammerdam, and Kirby — 2. Lister, Kirby, and White 
— 3. La Pluche and Bingley — 4. D'Isjonval, Murray, and Bowman — 5. Ex- 
periments of Mr. Blackwall — His account of the ascent of gossamer — 6. Ex- 
periments by Rennie — Thread supposed to go off double — Subsequent experi- 
ments — Nests, Webs, and Nets of Spiders — Elastic satin nest of a spider — Eve- 
lyn's account of hunting spiders — Labyrinthic spider's nest — Erroneous account 
of the House Spider — Geometric Spiders — attempts to procure silken filaments 
from Spiders' bags — Experiments of M. Bon — Silken material — Manner of its 
preparations — M. Bon's enthusiasm — His spider establishment — Spider-silk not 
poisonous — Its usefulness in healing wounds — Investigation of M. Bon's estab- 
lishment by M. Reaumur — His objections — Swift's satire against speculators 
and projectors — Ewbank's interesting observations on the ingenuity of spiders — 
Mason-spiders — Ingenious door with a hinge — Nest from the West Indies with 
spring hinge — Raft-building Spider — Diving Water-Spider — Rev. Mr. Kirby's 
beautiful description of it — Observations of M. Clerck — Cleanliness of Spiders — 
Structure of their claws — Fanciful account of them patting their webs — Pro- 
ceedings of a spider in a steamboat — Addison — His suggestions on the compila- 
tion of a " History of Insects" . 138 

CHAPTER X. 

FIBRES OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINNA. 

The Pinna — Description of — Delicacy of its threads — Reaumur's observations — 
Mode of forming the filament or thread — Power of continually producing new 
threads — Experiments to ascertain this fact — The Pinna and its Cancer 
Friend — Nature of their alliance — Beautiful phenomenon — Aristotle and Pliny's 
account — The Greek poet Oppianus's lines on the Pinna, and its Cancer friend 
— Manner of procuring the Pinna — Poli's description — Specimens of the Pinna 
in the British Museum — Pearls found in the Pinna — Pliny and Athenaeus's ac- 
count — Manner of preparing the fibres of the Pinna for weaving — Scarceness 
of this material — No proof that the ancients were acquainted with the art 
of knitting — Tertullian the first ancient writer who makes mention of the 
manufacture of cloth from the fibres of the Pinna — Procopius mentions a 



XVI CONTENTS. 

chlamys made of the fibres of the Pinna, and a silken tunic adorned with sprigs 
or feathers of gold — Boots of red leather worn only by Emperors — Golden fleece 
of the Pinna — St. Basil's account — Fibres of the Pinna not manufactured into 
cloth at Tarentum in ancient times, but in India — Diving for the Pinna at Col- 
chi — Arrian's account 174 

CHAPTER XI. 

FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINE-APPLE. 

Fibres of the Pine Apple — Facility of dyeing — Manner of preparing the fibres for 
weaving — Easy cultivation of the plant — Thrives where no other plant will 
live — Mr. Frederick Burt Zincke's patent process of manufacturing cloth from 
the fibres of this plant — Its comparative want of strength — Silken material pro- 
cured from the Papyfera — Spun and woven into cloth — Cloth of this description 
manufactured generally by the Otaheiteans, and other inhabitants of the South 
Sea Islands — Great strength (supposed) of ropes made from the fibres of the 
aloe — Exaggerated statements 185 

CHAPTER XII. 

MALLOWS. 

CULTIVATION AND USE OF THE MALLOW AMONG THE ANCIENTS. TESTIMONY 

OF LATIN, GREEK, AND ATTIC WRITERS. 

The earliest mention of Mallows is to be found in Job xxx. 4. — Varieties of the 
Mallow — Cultivation and use of the Mallow — Testimony of ancient authors — 
Papias and Isidore's mention of Mallow cloth — Mallow cloth common in the 
days of Charlemagne — Mallow shawls — Mallow cloths mentioned in the Peri- 
plus as exported from India to Barygaza (Baroch) — Calidasa the Indian dram- 
atist, who lived in the first century B. C. — His testimony — Wallich's (the In- 
dian botanist) account — Mantles of woven bark, mentioned in the Sacontala 
of Calidasa — Valcalas, or Mantles of woven bark, mentioned in the Ramayana, 
a noted poem of ancient India — Sheets made from trees — Ctesia's testimony 
— Strabo's account — Testimony of Statius Csecilius and Plautus, who lived 169 
B. C. and 184 B. C. — Plautus's laughable enumeration of the analogy of trades 
— Beauty of garments of Amorgos mentioned by Eupolis — Clearchus's testi- 
mony — Plato mentions linen shifts — Amorgine garments first manufactured at 
Athens in the time of Aristophanes 191 

CHAPTER XIII. 

SPARTUM OR SPANISH BROOM. 

CLOTH MANUFACTURED FROM BROOM BARK, NETTLE, AND BULBOUS PLANT. 

TESTIMONY OF GREEK AND LATIN AUTHORS. 

Authority for Spanish Broom — Stipa Tenacissima — Cloth made from Broom- 
bark — Albania — Italy — France — Mode of preparing the fibre for weaving — 



CONTENTS. Xvii 

Pliny's account of Spartum— Bulbous plant — Its fibrous coats — Pliny's transla- 
tion of Theophrastus — Socks and garments — Size of the bulb — Its genus or 
species not sufficiently defined — Remarks of various modern writers on this plant 
— Interesting communications of Dr. Daniel Stebbins, of Northampton, Mass. 
to Hon. H. L. Ellsworth 202 



PART SECOND. 

ORIGIN AND ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE SHEEP. 



CHAPTER I 

sheep's wool. 



SHEEP-BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS ILLUSTRATIONS OF 

THE SCRIPTURES, ETC. 

The Shepherd Boy — Sheep-breeding in Scythia and Persia— Mesopotamia and 
Syria—In IdumEea and Northern Arabia— In Palestine and Egypt — In Ethio- 
pia and Libya — In Caucasus and Coraxi — The Coraxi identified with the 
modern Caratshai— In Asia Minor, Pisidia, Pamphylia, Samos, &c— In Caria 
and Ionia— Milesian wool— Sheep-breeding in Thrace, Magnesia, Thessaly, 
Eubcea, and Bceotia— In Phocis, Attica, and Megaris— In Arcadia— Worship 
of Pan — Pan the god of the Arcadian Shepherds — Introduction of his worship 
into Attica — Extension of the worship of Pan — His dances with the nymphs — 
Pan not the Egyptian Mendes, but identical with Faunus— The philosophical 
explanation of Pan rejected— Moral, social, and political state of the Arcadians 
— Polybitts on the cultivation of music by the Arcadians! — "Worship of Mercury 
in connection with sheep-breeding and the wool trade — Present state of Arca- 
dia — Sheep-breeding in Macedonia and Epirus — Shepherds' dogs — Annual 
migration of Albanian shepherds 217 

CHAPTER II. 

SHEEP-BREEDING AND PASTOEAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS ILLUS- 
TRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC. 

Sheep-breeding in Sicily— Bucolic poetry— Sheep-breeding in South Italy— An- 
nual migration of the flocks— The ram employed to aid the shepherd in con- 
ducting his flock— The ram an emblem of authority — Bells— Ancient inscription 
at Sepino — Use of music by ancient shepherds — Superior quality of Tarentine 
sheep— Testimony of Columella— Distinction of the coarse and soft kinds- 
Names given to sheep— Supposed effect of the water of rivers on wool— Sheep- 
breeding in South Italy, Tarentum, and Apulia— Brown and red wool Sheep- 
breeding in North Italy— Wool of Parma, Modena, Mantua, and Padua— Ori- 



XVU1 CONTENTS. 

gin of sheep-breeding in Italy — Faunus the same with Pan — Ancient sculptures 
exhibiting Faunus — Bales of wool and the shepherd's dress — Costume, appear- 
ance, and manner of life of the ancient Italian shepherds . . 256 

CHAPTER III. 

SHEEP-BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS ILLUS- 
TRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC. 

Sheep-breeding in Germany and Gaul — In Britain — Improved by the Belgians 
and Saxons — Sheep-breeding in Spain — Natural dyes of Spanish wool — Golden 
hue and other natural dyes of the wool of Baetica — Native colors of Bsetic 
wool — Saga and chequered plaids — Sheep always bred principally for the 
weaver, not for the butcher — Sheep supplied milk for food, wool for clothing — 
The moth 282 

CHAPTER IV. 

GOATS-HAIR. 
ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC. 

Sheep-breeding and goats in China — Probable origin of sheep and goats — Sheep 
and goats coeval with man, and always propagated together — Habits of Gre- 
cian goat -herds — He-goat employed to lead the flock — Cameo representing a 
goat-herd — Goats chiefly valued for their milk — Use of goats' -hair for coarse- 
clothing — Shearing of goats in Phrygia, Cilicia, &c. — Vestes caprina, cloth of 
goats' -hair — -Use of goats' -hair for military and naval purposes — Curtains to 
cover tents — Etymology of Sack and Shag — Symbolical uses of sack-cloth — 
The Arabs weave goats' -hair — Modern uses of goats' -hair and goats'-wool — 
Introduction of the Angora or Cashmere goat into France — Success of the 
Project 293 

CHAPTER V. 

BEAVERS-WOOL. 

Isidorus Hispalensis — Claudian — Beckmann — Beavers'-wool — Dispersion of Bea- 
vers through Europe — Fossil bones of Beavers .... 309 

CHAPTER VI. 

CAMELS-WOOL AND CAMELS-HAIR. 

Camels' -wool and Camels' -hair — Ctesia's account — Testimony of modern travel- 
lers — Arab tent of Camels' -hair — Fine cloths still made of Camels'-wool — The 
use of hair of various animals in the manufacture of beautiful stuffs by the ancient 
Mexicans — Hair used by the Candian women in the manufacture of broidered 
stuffs — Broidered stuffs of the negresses of Senegal — Their great beauty 312 



CONTENTS. Xix 

PART THIRD. 

ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 



CHAPTER I. 

GREAT ANTIQUITY OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURE IN INDIA — 
UNRIVALLED SKILL OF THE INDIAN WEAVER. 

Superiority of Cotton for clothing, compared with linen, both in hot and cold cli- 
mates — Cotton characteristic of India — Account of Cotton by Herodotus, 
Ctesias, Theophrastus, Aristobulus, Nearchus, Pomponius Mela — Use of Cot- 
ton in India — Cotton known before silk and called Carpasus, Carpasum, Car- 
basum, &c. — Cotton awnings used by the Romans — Carbasus applied to linen 
— Last request of Tibullus — Muslin fillet of the vestal virgin — Linen sails, &c, 
called Carbasa — Valerius Flaccus introduces muslin among the elegancies in 
the dress of a Phrygian from the river Rhyndacus — Prudentius's satire on pride 

— Apuleius's testimony — Testimony of Sidonius Apollinaris, and Avienus 

Pliny and Julius Pollux — Their testimony considered — Testimony of Tertullian 
and Philostratus — Of Martianus Capella — Cotton paper mentioned by The- 
ophylus Presbyter — Use of Cotton by the Arabians — Cotton not common an- 
ciently in Europe — Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville's testimony of the 
Cotton of India — Forbes's description of the herbaceous Cotton of Guzerat — 
Testimony of Malte Bran — Beautiful Cotton textures of the ancient Mexicans 
— Testimony of the Abbe Clavigero — Fishing nets made from Cotton by the 
inhabitants of the West India Islands, and on the Continent of South Amer- 
ica — Columbus's testimony — Cotton used for bedding by the Brazilians . 315 

CHAPTER II. 

SPINNING AND WEAVING MARVELLOUS SKILL DISPLAYED IN THESE 

ARTS. 

Unrivalled excellence of India muslins — Testimony of the two Arabian travellers 
— Marco Polo, and Odoardo Barbosa's accounts of the beautiful Cotton tex- 
tures of Bengal — Caesar Frederick, Tavernier, and Forbes's testimony Extra- 
ordinary fineness and transparency of Decca muslins — Specimen brought by Sir 
Charles Wilkins ; compared with English muslins — Sir Joseph Banks's experi- 
ments^ — Extraordinary fineness of Cotton yarn spun by machinery in England 

Fineness of India Cotton yarn — Cotton textures of Soonergong — Testimony of 
R. Fitch — Hamilton's account — Decline of the manufactures of Dacca ac- 
counted for — Orme's testimony of the universal diffusion of the Cotton manu- 
facture in India — Processes of the manufacture — Rude implements Roller gin 

— Bowing. (Eli Whitney inventor of the cotton gin— Tribute of respect paid 
to his memory — Immense value of Mr. Whitney's invention to growers and man- 
ufacturers of Cotton throughout the world.) Spinning wheel — Spinning without 

3 



XX CONTENTS. 

a wheel — Loom — Mode of weaving — Forbes's description — Habits and remuner- 
ation of Spinners, Weavers, &c. — Factories of the East India Company — Mar- 
vellous skill of the Indian workman accounted for — Mills's testimony — Principal 
Cotton fabrics of India, and where made — Indian commerce in Cotton goods — 
Alarm created in the woollen and silk manufacturing districts of Great Britain 
— Extracts from publications of the day — Testimony of Daniel De Foe (Au- 
thor of Robinson Crusoe.) — Indian fabrics prohibited in England, and most 
other countries of Europe — Petition from Calcutta merchants — Present con- 
dition of the City of Dacca — Mode of spinning fine yarns — Tables showing 
the comparative prices of Dacca and British manufactured goods of the same 
quality 333 



PART FOURTH. 

ANCIENT HISTOKY OF THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 



CHAPTER I. 



CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF FLAX BY THE ANCIENTS ILLUSTRATIONS 

OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC. 

Earliest mention of Flax — Linen manufactures of the Egyptians — Linen worn by 
the priests of Isis — Flax grown extensively in Egypt — Flax gathering — Envel- 
opes of Linen found on Egyptian mummies — Examination of mummy-cloth — 
Proved to be Linen — Flax still grown in Egypt — Explanation of terms — Bys- 
sus — Reply to J. R. Forster — Hebrew and Egyptian terms — Flax in North 
Africa, Colchis, Babylonia — Flax cultivated in Palestine — Terms for flax and 
tow — Cultivation of Flax in Palestine and Asia Minor — In Elis, Etruria, Cis- 
alpine Gaul, Campania, Spain — Flax of Germany, of the Atrebates, and of the 
Franks — Progressive use of linen among the Greeks and Romans . 358 

CHAPTER II. 



Cultivation and Uses of Hemp by the Ancients — Its use limited — Thrace — Col- 
chis — Caria — Etymology of Hemp 387 

CHAPTER III. 

ASBESTOS. 

Uses of Asbestos — Carpasian flax — Still found in Cyprus — Used in funerals — As- 
bestine-cloth — How manufactured — \sbestos used for fraud and superstition 
by the Romish monks — Relic at Monte Casino . ... 390 



CONTENTS. XXI 



APPENDICES 



APPENDIX A. 

on pliny's natural history. 

Sheep and wool — Price of wool in Pliny's time — Varieties of wool and where pro- 
duced — Coarse wool used for the manufacture of carpets — Woollen cloth of 
Egypt — Embroidery — Felting — Manner of cleansing — Distaff of Tanaquil — 
Varro — Tunic — Toga — Undulate or waved cloth — Nature of this fabric — Fig- 
ured cloths in use in the days of Homer (900 B. C.) — Cloth of gold — Figured 
cloths of Babylon — Damask first woven at Alexandria — Plaided textures first 
woven in Gaul — $150,000 paid for a Babylonish coverlet — Dyeing of wool in 
the fleece — Observations on sheep and goats — Dioscurias a city of the Colchians 
— Manner of transacting business 401 

APPENDIX B. 

ON THE ORIGIN AND MANUFACTURE OF LINEN AND COTTON PAPER. 

THE INVENTION OF LINEN PAPER PROVEN TO BE OF EGYPTIAN ORIGIN — COTTON 
PAPER MANUFACTURED BY THE BUCHARIANS AND ARABIANS, A. D. 704. 

Wehrs gives the invention of Linen paper to Germany — Schonemann to Italy — 
Opinion of various writers, ancient and modern — Linen paper produced in 
Egypt from mummy-cloth, A. D. 1200 — Testimony of Abdollatiph — Europe 
indebted to Egypt for linen paper until the eleventh century — Cotton paper — 
The knowledge of manufacturing, how procured, and by whom — Advantages 
of Egyptian paper manufacturers — Clugny's testimony — Egyptian manuscript 
of linen paper bearing date A. D. 1100 — Ancient water-marks on linen paper 
— Linen paper first introduced into Europe by the Saracens of Spain. (The 
Wasp a paper-maker — Manufacture of paper from shavings of wood, and from 
the stalks or leaves of Indian-corn.) 404 

APPENDIX C. 



MANUFACTURE AND USE OF FELTING BY THE ANCIENTS. 

Felting more ancient than weaving — Felt used in the East — Use of it by the 
Tartars — Felt made of goats'-hair by the Circassians — Use of felt in Italy and 
Greece — Cap worn by the Cynics, Fishermen, Mariners, Artificers, &c. — 
Cleanthes compares the moon to a skull-cap — Desultores — Vulcan — Ulysses — 
Phrygian bonnet — Cap worn by the Asiatics — Phrygian felt of Camels'-hair — 
Its great stiffness — Scarlet and purple felt used by Babylonish decorators — 
Mode of manufacturing Felt — Northern nations of Europe — Cap of liberty — 



XX11 CONTENTS. 

Petasus — Statue of Endymion — Petasns in works of ancient art — Hats of Thes- 
saly and Macedonia — Laconian or Arcadian hats — The Greeks manufacture 
Felt 900 B. C. — Mercury with the pileus and petasus — Miscellaneous uses of 
Felt ... 414 

APPENDIX D. 

ON NETTING. 

MANUFACTURE AND USE OF NETS BY THE ANCIENTS ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE 

SCRIPTURES, ETC. 

Nets were made of Flax, Hemp, and Broom — General terms for nets — Nets used 
for catching birds — Mode of snaring — Hunting-nets — Method of hunting — 
Hunting-nets supported by forked stakes — Manner of fixing them — Purse-net 
or tunnel-net — Homer's testimony — Nets used by the Persians in lion-hunting 
— Hunting with nets practised by the ancient Egyptians — Method of hunting 
— Depth of nets for this purpose — Description of the purse-net — Road-net — 
Hallier — Dyed feathers used to scare the prey — Casting-net — Manner of throw- 
ing by the Arabs — Cyrus king of Persia — His fable of the piper and the fishes 
— Fishing-nets — Casting-net used by the Apostles — Landing-net (Scap-net) — 
The Sean — Its length and depth — Modern use of the Sean — Method of fishing 
with the Sean practised by the Arabians and ancient Egyptians — Corks and 
leads — Figurative application of the Sean — Curious method of capturing an 
enemy practised by the Persians — Nets used in India to catch tortoises — Bag- 
nets and small purse-nets — Novel scent-bag of Verres the Sicilian praetor 436 



LIST OF PLATES. 



I. Frontispiece — Chinese Looms. 
II. Egyptian Looms, with the Processes of Spinning and Winding, 

to face page 93 

III. Silk Worm, Cocoons, Chrysalis, Moths, and Pinna . . . 118 

IV. Spiders, with the Processes of Spinning and Weaving . . .172 
V. Indian Loom, with the Process of Winding off the Thread . 315 

VI. Egyptian Flax-gathering. Magnified Fibres of Flax and Cotton 359 
VII. Map, showing the Divisions of the Ancient World, coloured ac- 
cording to the Raw Materials principally produced in them 

for Weaving 400 

VIII. Caps worn by Cynic Philosopher, Vulcan, Daedalus, Ulysses, 
and a Desultor. Caps worn by Modern Greek Boy and 
Fisherman. Mysian Cap or Phrygian Bonnet. Coins in the 

British Museum 415 

IX. Statue of Endymion. Hats worn by Shepherds and Athenian 

Ephebi. Coins in the British Museum 434 

X. Hunting-scenes in bas-reliefs at Ince-Blundell. Egyptians with 

theDrag-Net . 464 



PART FIRST, 
ANCIENT HISTORY OF SILK, 

CHAPTER I. 

SPINNING, DYEING, AND WEAVING. 

Whether Silk is mentioned in the Old Testament — Earliest Clothing — Coats of 
Skin, Tunic, Simla — Progress of Invention — Chinese chronology relative to the 
Culture of Silk — Exaggerated statements — Opinions of Mailla, Le Sage, M. 
Lavoisne, Rev. J. Robinson, Dr. A. Clarke, Rev. W. Hales, D.D., Mairan, 
Bailly, Guignes, and Sir William Jones — Noah supposed to be the first empe- 
ror of China — Extracts from Chinese publications — Silk Manufactures of the 
island of Cos — Described by Aristotle — Testimony of Varro — Spinning and 
Weaving in Egypt — Great ingenuity of Bezaleel and Aholiab in the production 
of Figured Textures for the Jewish Tabernacle — Skill of the Sidonian women 
in the Manufacture of Ornamental Textures — Testimony of Homer — Great 
antiquity of the Distaff and Spindle — The prophet Ezekiel's account of the 
Broidered Stuffs, etc of the Egyptians — Beautiful eulogy on an industrious 
woman — Helen the Spartan, her superior skill in the art of Embroidery — Golden 
Distaff presented her by the Egyptian queen Alcandra — Spinning a domestic 
occupation in Miletus — Theocritus's complimentary verses to Theuginis on her 
industry and virtue — Taste of the Roman and Grecian ladies in the decoration 
of their Spinning Implements — Ovid's testimony to the skill of Arachne in 
Spinning and Weaving — Method of Spinning with the Distaff — Described by 
Homer and Catullus — Use of Silk in Arabia 500 years after the flood — For- 
ster's testimony. 

To please the flesh a thousand arts contend : 

The miser's heaps of gold, the figur'd vest, 

The gem, the silk-worm, and the purple dye, 

By toil acquir'd, promote no other end. — Peristeph. Hymn. x. 

Whether silk is ever mentioned in the Old Testament 
cannot perhaps be determined. 

In Ezek. xvi. 10 and 13, "silk" is used in the common 
English bible for *JJJ£, which occurs no where except here, 
but which, as appears from the context, certainly meant some 

1 



a CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF 

valuable article of female dress. Le Clerc and Rosenmtiller 
translate it " serico ;" Cocceius, Schindler, Buxtorf, in their 
Lexicons, and Dr. John Taylor in his Concordance., give the 
same interpretation. Augusti and De Wette in their German 
translation make it signify " a silken veil? Others give dif- 
ferent interpretations. The only ground, on which silk of 
any kind is supposed to be meant, is that in the Alexandrine 
or Septuagint version *JJ>2D is translated T^x aitT0V t and r^x aijT0V 
is explained by Hesychius to mean " the silken web fitted to 
be placed over the hair of the head " (™ (Sorfvuwov tyna^a inip ™v 
rpix<Sv Ttjs if^aXijs aiTTOjiEvov)^ and that other ancient Greek lexicogra- 
phers also suppose a silken garment to be meant.* But the 
meaning of Tpi X a*Tov is in reality as obscure as that of »$jfj£. 
Jerome could not discover it, and concluded that the word was 
invented by the Greek translator. It is now extant no where 
else except in a passage of the comic Pherecrates preserved in 
Athenseus. Schneider, followed by Passow, supposes it to 
mean some garment made of hair, and quotes to this effect 
the explanation of Pollux (2. 24.), nMyna u rpi X ^. Although, 
therefore, the term in question may possibly have denoted 
some elegant and costly ornament for the head, made at least 
partly of silk, yet this opinion appears to rest altogether upon 
the assumption, first, that the ancient lexicographers are ac- 
curate in their use of the epithet /%/?w<iw, and secondly, that 
the Alexandrine version is accurate in adopting the word 

In Isaiah xix. 9, according to King James's Translators 
and Bishop Lowth, mention is made of those " that work in 
fine flax," in the orignal r\)pn& DTlC'aJ H3V- Rosen- 
miiller adopts nearly the same interpretation, which is founded 
upon the use of the verb pl^ or p^D in the Chaldee and 
Syriac dialects to denote the operation of combing flax, wool, 
hair, and other substances. In this sense the word has been 
taken by the author of the Alexandrine Version, rov; ipya^ivo^ 
to livov to axicTdv; by Symmachus, who instead of a X ^rdv uses 
ktsvio-tov ; and by Jerome, "qui operabantur linum pectentcs." 

* See Schleusner, Lexicon in LXX., v. Tpix^^ov. 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 6 

In the Targum of Jonathan and in the Syriac Version the 
same root is taken to denote silk; JOD3 TtSd ppHDTl 
Targ. T*°«-^ r (jAo ^.jri^ Syr. Both of these seem to ad- 
mit of the following literal translation, " those who make silken 
tunics" or in Latin, " Factores tunicarum e serins." 

Kimchi supposes Dlp'l^ to mean silk webs, observing 
that silk is called p*1^ 7& by the Arabs. The same opin- 
ion has been adopted by Nicholas Fuller*, Buxtorf, and other 
modern critics. Kennicott, however, arranges the words in 
two lines as follows, 

mn D'J-ini mpne> 

According to this arrangement, which seems most suitable to 
the rules of grammatical construction, we have three co-ordi- 
nate phrases in the plural number, denoting three different 
classes of artificers. The second, filp**")^, would by its ter- 
mination denote female artificers, viz. women employed in 
combing- wool, flax, or other substances. On the whole we 
are inclined to adopt this explanation of the word, as it ap- 
pears to be attended with the least difficulty, either grammati- 
cal or etymological. 

Silk is mentioned Prov. xxxi. 22. in King James's Trans- 
lation, i.. e. the common English version, and in the margin 
of Gen. xli. 42. But the use of the word is quite unauthor- 
ized. 

After a full examination of the whole question Brauniust 
decides that there is no mention of silk in the whole of the 
Old Testament, and that it was unknown to the Hebrews in 
ancient times. 

" There can be no doubt," says Professor Hurwitz, " that 
manufactures and the arts must have attained a high degree 
of perfection at the time when Moses wrote ; and that many 
of them were known long before that period, we have the evi- 
dence of Scripture. It is true that inventions were at first 

* Miscellanea Sacra, I. ii. c. 11. 

t De vestitu Heb. Sacerdotum, 1. 1. cap. viii. § 8. 



4 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF 

few, and their progress very slow, but they were suited to the 
then condition and circumstances of man, as is evident even 
in the art of clothing. Placed in the salubrious and mild air 
of paradise, our first parents could hardly want any other cov- 
ering than what decency required. Accordingly we find that 
the first and only article of dress was the flTOn chagora, the 
belt, (not aprons, as in the established version). The mate- 
rials of which it was made were fig leaves ; (Gen. hi. 7.) the 
same tree that afforded them food and shelter, furnished them 
likewise with materials for covering their bodies. But when 
in consequence of their transgressions they were to be ejected 
from their blissful abode, and forced to dwell in less favoura- 
ble regions, a more substantial covering became necessary, 
their merciful Creator made them (i. e. inspired them with 
the thoughts of making for themselves) *)1^ fiUrD coats of 
skins. (Gen. iii. 21.) The original word is rUfO c'thoneth, 
whence the Greek x iTav the tunic, a close garment that was 
usually worn next the skin, it reached to the knees, and had 
sleeves (in after times it was made either of wool or linen.) 
After man had subdued the sheep (Hebrew ££OD caves from 
£03 to subdue*) and learned how to make use of its wool, 
we find a new article of dress, namely the TVlftW simla, an 
upper garment : it consisted of a piece of cloth about six yards 
long and two or three wide, in shape not unlike our blankets. 
This will explain Gen. ix. 23, ' And Shem and Japheth took 
a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went 
backward and covered the nakedness of their father.' It 
served as a dress by day, as a bed by night, (Exod. xxii. 26,) 

* There is not the least shadow of truth in support of such a deduction ; and 
particularly so since the general tenor of the Scriptures leads to a very different 
conclusion. We are, therefore, not authorized to give our support to any such 
hypothesis. The history of the Sheep and Goat is so interwoven with the history 
of man, that those naturalists have not reasoned correctly, who have thought it 
necessary to refer the first origin of either of them to any wild stock at all. Such 
view is, we imagine, more in keeping with the inferences to be drawn from Scrip- 
ture History with regard to the early domestication of the sheep. Abel, we are 
told, was a keeper of sheep, and it was one of the firstlings of his flock that he 
offered to the Lord, and which, proving a more acceptable sacrifice, excited the 
implacable and fatal jealousy of his brother Cain. (See Part ii. pp. 217 and 29.3.) 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 



1 If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge, thou 
shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down ; for that 
is his covering only ; it is his raiment for his skin : wherein 
shall he sleep V And sometimes burdens were carried in it, 
(Exod. xii. 34,) 'And the people took their dough before it 
was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their 
clothes upon their shoulders.' 

" In the course of time various other garments came into 
use, as mentioned in several other parts of Scripture. The 
materials of which these garments were usually made are 
specified in Leviticus xiii. 47 — 59, ' The garment also that 
the plague of the leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen gar- 
ment or a linen garment, whether it be in the warp or woof, 
of linen or of woollen ; whether in a skin, or in anything 
made of skin, &c.' " 

In our search for the distant origin of any art or science, or 
in looking through the long vista of ages remote even to na- 
tions extinct before our own, we are favored with satisfactory 
evidence so long as we are accompanied with authentic records : 
beyond, all is dark, obscure, tradition, fable. On such ground 
it would be credulous or rash in the extreme to repeat as our 
own, an affirmation, when that rests on the single testimony 
of one party or interest, especially when that is of a very ques- 
tionable character. It is even safer, when history or well au- 
thenticated records fail us, to appeal to philosophy, or to the 
well known laws of mind, from which all arts and science 
spring. The former favors us with the commanding evidence 
of certainty and decision ; and though the latter may only af- 
ford the testimony of analogy, yet, is its probability more safe, 
at least, than what rests on misguided calculations or on the 
legendary tales of artifice and fiction. 

We have, however, authentic testimony that the inventive 
faculty existed at a very early period. The peculiar condition 
of man at that time must have afforded many imperative oc- 
casions for its exertion. Hence we read that " Jabal was the 
father of such as dwell in tents" (i. e. inventor of tent-ma- 
king) ; that " Jubal, his brother, was the father " (inventor) of 
musical instruments : such as the kimior, harp, or stringed in- 



O CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP 

struments, and the ugab, organ, or wind instruments ; that 
" Tubal-cain was the instructor of every artificer in brass and 
iron," the first smith on record, or one to teach how to make 
instruments and utensils out of brass and iron ; and that the 
sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah, whom the Targum of 
Jonathan ben Uzziel affirms to have been the inventrix of 
plaintive or elegiac poetry*. Here is then an account of the 
inventive faculty being in exercise 3504 years before the 
Christian era ; or 1156 years prior to the deluge ; or 804 
years before the earliest period assigned to the Chinese for the 
discovery of silk. And of whatever arts or sciences existing 
amongst men prior to the deluge, there is no difficulty in con- 
ceiving the possibility of the transmission of the leading and 
most essential parts, at least, to the post-diluvians, by the fam- 
ily of Noah. 

But instead of giving our unqualified assent to what has 
been servilely copied from book to book from the most accessible 
account, we shall advert to the great discrepancy relative to 
Chinese chronology, amongst those who have had equal access 
to their records. Thus the time of Fohi, the first emperor, has 
been said to be 2951 B. C, by some 2198 B. C, and by others 
2057, or about 300 years after the deluge : of Hoang-ti, 2700 
B. C, by Mailla it is quoted at 2602 B. C, by Le Sage at 
2597 B. C, and by Robinson and others at 1703 B. C. Sim- 
ilar disagreements might, would our limits allow, be observed 
concerning the rest, and particularly of the emperors, Hiao- 
wenti, Chim-ti, Ming-ti, Youen-ti, Wenti, Wou-ti, and Hiao- 
wou-ti. Even in more modern times, and relative to a char- 
acter so notorious as Confucius, no less than three dates are 



* As a proof that the inventive faculty, as to every thing truly useful to man, 
originally proceeded from the only " Giver of every good and perfect gift," con- 
sult Isa. xxviii. 24 — 29 : and also a beautiful comment by Dr. A. Clarke on, 
"And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with 
the spirit of wisdom." Exod. xxviii. 3 : and also on, " I have filled him with the 
spirit of God iii wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all man- 
ner of workmanship ; to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and 
in brass ; and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work 
in all manner of curious workmanship." Exod. xxxi. 3, 4, and 5. 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 7 

equally affirmed to be true. As to Hoang-ti, who is said to 
have begun the culture of silk, we are inclined to prefer the 
latter account, 1703 B. C, which makes him contemporary 
with Joseph, when prime minister over the land of Egypt. 

As a confirmation of this, it may be stated, that by referring 
to the account given of nine* of the patriarchs at this period, 
we shall find that the average age of human life, before much 
greater, soon after rapidly declined. Now the average dura- 
tion of the reigns of the first threet Chinese emperors, including 
Hoang-ti, was 118 years ; of the five that immediately succeed- 
ed, only 68 years. After this, until the Christian era, the aver- 
age duration of a single reign did not exceed 23 years, and 
thence until the present time not 13 years. Since, therefore, 
the average duration of the reign of the first three emperors 
bears an evident and fit proportion to that of the age of man 
at the period specified, though not at any other before or after, 
being in the former case as much too small as it would in the 
latter be too great, the opinion now offered is the only one that 
can be consistent with these striking facts ; and, if duly con- 
sidered, presents an argument strongly corroborating this view 
of the subject. 

To attempt to establish any greater certainty, in a case of 
this nature, the Chinese during the d)masty of Tschin, having, 
to conceal the truth, destroyed everything authentic, would be 
in vain. It would be even more rational to have recourse to 
the Vedas, or sacred books of the Brahmins, or to records in 
the Sanscrit, were it not a well known fact, that nearly all 
ancient nations, except the Jews, actuated by the same ambi- 
tion, have betrayed a wish to have their origin traced as far 
back as the creation. And in the gratification of this passion 
none are so notoriously pre-eminent as the Egyptians, Hindoos, 
and Chinese. + For them the limits of the creation itself have 
been too narrow, and days, weeks, and even months too short, 
unless multiplied into years. § 

* Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph: 
Gen. xi. 16—26 ; xlvii. 28 ; and 1. 26. t Fohi, Eohi Chinun, and Hoang-ti. 
X See Dr. A. Clarke's remarks : end of Gen. 
§ See pp. 68, 74, 119 and 294. 



8 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP 

The chronology relative to the early culture of silk, as 
found in Chinese documents, for several irrefragable objections 
already assigned, is exceedingly questionable, and therefore 
we are by no means pledged to affirm that either in the 
authenticity of the books, or in the correctness of the dates have 
we any faith. M. Lavoisne dates the commencement of the 
Chinese dynasties at A. M.* 1816, or 159 years after the del- 
uge. The Rev. J. Robinson of Christ Col., Cam., at A. M. 
1947. We have already given as strong reasons, as under the 
extreme incertitude of the case, can, perhaps, be offered, for 
preferring the latter ; the important points may be briefly 
stated, thus : 

End of the deluge +1657 A. M. 

Fohi, first emperor, began to reign - 1947 A. M. 

Noah died 2007 A. M. 

Eohi Chinun, second emperor, began to reign - - 2061 A. M. 
Hoang-ti, the third emperor, began to reign - - 2201 A. M. 

Hoang-ti after establishing the silk culture, died - - 2301 A. M. 

Hoang-ti was therefore contemporary with Joseph when ad- 
ministering the affairs of Egypt. % But would we know what 
account the Chinese themselves give relative to the earliest 
introduction of the silk culture, we shall find it in the French 
version of the Chinese Treatises, by M. Stanislas Julien, or in 
the following words of pages 77 and 78, as translated and 
published in 1838, at Washington, under the title of " Sum- 
mary of the principal Chinese Treatises upon the Culture of 
the Mulberry, and the rearing of Silk-worms." 

* A. M. signifies Anno Mundi, that is in the year of the World. The Year of 
Our Lord always commences on the first day of January, the day on which 
Christ was circumcised, being eight days old. From the Creation until the birth 
of Christ, was 4004 years. 

Tirin places the birth of Christ in the 36th year of Herod, the 40th of Augus- 
tus, the 28th from the battle of Actium, the 749th of Rome, and the 4th of the 
193d Olympiad. 

+ It will here not be improper to observe that the Samaritan text and Septua- 
gint version of the Hebrew, carry the deluge as far back as to the year 3716 be- 
fore Christ ; or 1000 years before the Chinese account of Hoang-ti. On this sub- 
ject see the New Analysis of Chronology, by the Rev. W. Hales, D.D. 4to., 3 vol. 

I Joseph died in the 2369th year from the Creation. 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 9 

In the book on silk-worms, we read : " The lawful wife of 
the emperor Hoang-ti, named Si-ling-chi, began the culture of 
silk. It was at that time that the emperor Hoang-ti invented 
the art of making garments (.!)." The same fact is mentioned 
more in detail in the general history of China, by P. Mailla, 
in the year 2602, before our era (4447 years ago). 

" This great prince (Hoang-ti) was desirous that Si-ling- 
chi, his legitimate wife, should contribute to the happiness of 
his people. He charged her to examine the silk-worms, and 
to test the practicability of using the thread. Si-ling-chi had 
a large quantity of these insects collected, which she fed her- 
self, in a place prepared for that purpose, and discovered not 
only the means of raising them, but also the manner of reel- 
ing the silk, and of employing it to make garments." 

"It is through gratitude for so great a benefit," says the 
history, entitled Wai-ki, " that posterity has deified Si-ling- 
chi, and rendered her particular honors under the name of 
the goddess of silk-worms." (Memoirs on the Chinese, vol. 
13, p. 240.) 

We have seen that the most probable account relative to the 
time of Fohi, said to have been the first Chinese emperor, is 
that he reigned 2057 years before the Christian era, or in the 
year of the world 1947. "According to the most current 
opinion," says M. Lavoisne, "China was founded by one of 
the colonies formed at the dispersion of Noah's posterity under 
the conduct of Yao, who took for his colleague Chun, after- 
wards his successor. But most writers consider Fohi to have 
been Noah himself(!)." 

Now the deluge terminated A. M. 1657, and Noah lived 
after the deluge 350 years*, and therefore died A. M. 2007 ; 
and as Fohi is said to have reigned 114 years, before Eohi 
Chun or Chinun succeeded him, he was contemporary, at 
least, with Noah. The ark rested on Mount Ararat, which is 
generally allowed to be one of the mountains of Armenia, to 
the east of the head of the Tigris. And here the same author 
remarks, that " in rather less than a century and a half, after 

* Gen. ix. 28. 

2 



10 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP 

the birth of Peleg, it is supposed that Noah, being then about 
his 840th year, wearied with the growing depravity of his 
descendants, retired with a select company to a remote 
corner of Asia, and there began what in after ages has 
been termed the Chinese monarchy, ."* This view of the sub- 
ject, we believe, coincides perfectly with the reputable testi- 
monies presented by Mairan, Bailly, Guignes, and Sir William 
Jones, and demonstrates that the transit of more central abo- 
rigines, since the deluge, to the extremes of China, was,, per- 
fectly feasible,! and a matter of even high probability. 

The first ancient author, who affords any evidence respect- 
ing the use of silk, is Aristotle. He does not, however, appear 
to have been accurately acquainted with the changes of the 
silk- worm ; nor does he sa3^, that the animal was bred or the 
raw material produced in Cos. He only says, "Pamphile, 
daughter of Plates, is reported to have first woven it in Cos." 
(See Chapters ii. iii. and iv. of this Part.) 

Long before the time of Aristotle a regular trade had been 
established in the interior of Asia, which brought its most 
valuable productions, and especially those which were most 
easily transported, to the shores opposite this flourishing island. 
Nothing therefore is more likely than that the raw silk from 
the interior of Asia was brought to Cos and there manufac- 
tured. We shall see hereafter from the testimony of Procopius, 
that it was in like manner brought some centuries later to be 
woven in the Phoenician cities, Tyre and Berytus. 

The arts of spinning and weaving, which rank next in im- 
portance to agriculture, having been found among almost all 
the nations of the old and new continents, even among those 
little removed from barbarism, are reasonably supposed to 
have been invented at a very remote period of the world's 
history!. They evidently existed in Egypt in the time of 



* Clarke's "Treatise on the Mulberry -tree, and Silk-worm," pp. 14, 18, 20, 
21, 27, and 34. 

t See chap. iv. p. 67. Also Plate VII. (Map. 

t According to Pliny, Semiramis, the Assyrian queen, was believed to have 
been the inventress of the art of weaving. Minerva is in some of the ancient 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 11 

Joseph (1700 years before the Christian era), as it is recorded 
that Pharaoh " arrayed him in vestures of fine linen." (Gene- 
sis xli. 42.) Two centuries later, the Hebrews carried with 
them on their departure from that ancient seat of civilization, 
the arts of spinning, dyeing, weaving, and embroidery ; for 
when Moses constructed the tabernacle in the wilderness, " the 
women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and 
brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of pur- 
ple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen." (Exod. xxxv. 25.) 
They also " spun goats' hair ;" and Bezaleel and Aholiab 
" worked all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the 
cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and of 
purple, and in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver? 
These passages contain the earliest mention of woven cloth- 
ing, which was linen, the national manufacture of Egypt. 
The prolific borders of the Nile furnished from the remotest 
periods, as at the present time, abundance of the finest flax* ; 
and it appears, from the testimony both of sacred and profane 
history, that linen continued to be almost the only kind of 
clothing used in Egypt till after the Christian eraf. The 
Egyptians exported their " linen yarn," and " fine linen," to 
the kingdom of Israel, in the days of Solomon, (2 Chron. i. 
16 ; Prov. vii. 16 ;) their " fine linen with broidered work," to 
Tyre, (Ezek. xxvii. 7.) 

The women of Sidon before the Trojan war, were especially 
celebrated for the skill in embroidery : and Homer, who lived 
900 years B. C, mentions Helen as being engaged in em- 
broidering the combats of the Greeks and Trojans. 

statutes represented with a distaff, to intimate that she taught men the art of spin- 
ning ; and this honor is given by the Egyptians to Isis, by the Mohammedans to 
a son of Japhet, by the Chinese to the consort of their emperor Yao, and by the 
Peruvians to Mamaoella, wife to Manco-Capae, their first sovereign. These 
traditions serve only to carry the invaluable arts of spinning and weaving up to 
an extremely remote period, long prior to that of authentic history. 

* Paintings representing the gathering and preparation of flax have been found 
on the walls of the ancient sepulchres at Eleithias and Beni Hassan, in Upper 
Egypt, and are described and copied by Hamilton. — " Remarks on several parts 
of Turkey, and on ancient and modern Egypt," pp. 97 and 287, plate 23. 

t Herodotus, book ii. c. 37, 81. (See Plate vi.) 



12 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF 

The transition from vegetable fibre to the use of animal 
staples, such as wool and hair, could not have been very dif- 
ficult ; indeed, as already stated, it took place at a period of 
which we possess no very authentic written record. 

The instrument used for spinning in all countries, from the 
earliest times, was the distaff and spindle. This simple ap- 
paratus was put by the Greek mythologists into the hands of 
Minerva and the Parcae ; Solomon employs upon it the indus- 
try of the virtuous woman ; to the present day the distaff is 
used in India, Egypt, and other eastern countries. 

The ancient spindle or distaff was a very simple instru- 
ment. The late Lady Calcott informs us, that it continued 
even to our own days to be used by the Hindoos in all its 
primitive simplicity. " I have seen," she says, " the rock or 
distaff formed simply of the leading shoot of some young 
tree, carefully peeled, it might be birch or elder, and, further 
north, of fir or pine ; and the spindle formed of the beautiful 
shrub Euonymus, or spindle-tree."* 

Spinning among the Egyptians, as among our ancestors 
of no very distant age, was a domestic occupation in which 
ladies of rank did not hesitate to engage. The term " spin- 
ster " is yet applied to unmarried ladies of every rank, and 
there are persons yet alive who remember to have seen the 
spinning wheel an ordinary piece of furniture in domestic 
economy. 

We are told that " Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt 



* The superior fineness of some Indian muslins, and their quality of retaining, 
longer than European fabrics, an appearance of excellence, has occasioned a be- 
lief that the cotton wool of which they are woven is superior to any known else- 
where ; this, however, is so far from being the fact, that no cotton is to be found 
in India which at all equals in quality the better kinds produced in the United 
States of America. The excellence of India muslins must be wholly ascribed to 
the skilfulness and patience of the workmen, as shown in the different processes 
of spinning and weaving. (See Plate v.) Their yarn is spun upon the distaff, 
and it is owing to the dexterous use of the finger and thumb in forming the 
thread, and to the moisture which it thus imbibes, that its fibres are moro per- 
fectly incorporated than they can be through the employment of any mechanical 
substitutes. 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 13 

and linen yarn ; the king's merchants received the linen yarn 
at a price." (1 Kings, x. 28.) And the linen of Egypt was 
highly valued in Palestine, for the seducer, in Proverbs, says, 
" I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carv- 
ed works, with fine linen of Egypt." (Prov. vii. 16.) The 
prophet Ezekiel also declares that the export of the textile 
fabrics was an important branch of Phoenician commerce ; 
for in his enumeration of the articles of traffic in Tyre, he 
says : u Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that 
which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail ; blue and purple 
from the isles of Elisha was that which covered thee." 
(Ezek. xxvii. 7.) 

It deserves to be remarked that the prophet here joins 
Egypt with the isles of Elisha or Elis, that is, the districts of 
western Greece, and thus confirms the ancient tradition re- 
corded by Herodotus of some Egyptian colonists having set- 
tled in that country, which the sceptics of the German school 
of history have thought proper to deny.* Spinning was 
wholly a female employment ; it is rather singular that we 
find this work frequently performed by a large number col- 
lected together, as if the factory system had been established 
3000 years ago. 

We have, however, many specimens of spinning as a do- 
mestic employment. Indeed, attention to the spindle and 
distaff forms a leading feature in king Lemuel's description 
of a virtuous woman. " Who can find a virtuous woman ? 
for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband 
doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. 
She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. 



* The sceptical school of history, founded by Niebuhr, in Germany, and ex- 
tended by his disciples to a sweeping incredulity, far beyond what was contem- 
plated by the founder, has labored hard to prove, that the Greek system of civili- 
zation was indigenous, and that the candid confession of Herodotus, attributing 
to Egyptian colonies the first introduction of the arts of life into Hellas, was an 
idle tale, or a groundless tradition. But the examination of the monuments has 
proved that Greek art originated in Egypt ; and that the elements of the archi- 
tectural, sculptural, and pictorial wonders which have rendered Greece and Italy 
illustrious, were derived from the valley of the Nile. 



14 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF 

She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her 
hands. She is like the merchant's ships ; she bringeth her 
food from afar. She riseth also while it is yet night, and 
giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. 
She considereth a field, and buyeth it ; with the fruit of her 
hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with 
strength, and strengtheneth her arms. She perceiveth that 
her merchandise is good : her candle goeth not out by night. 
She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the 
distaff. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor ; yea, she 
reacheth forth her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of 
the snow for her household : for all her household are clothed 
with scarlet. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry ; her 
clothing is silk and purple. Her husband is known in the 
gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. She 
maketh fine linen, and selleth it ; and delivereth girdles unto 
the merchant." (Prow xxxi. 10-24.) 

Hamilton and Wilkinson have already shown that many 
of the descriptions of combats we meet in the Iliad appear to 
have been derived from the battle pieces on the walls of the 
Theban palaces, which the poet himself pretty plainly inti- 
mates that he had visited. The same observation may be 
applied to most of Homer's pictures of domestic life. We find 
the lady of the mansion superintending the labors of her ser- 
vants, and using the distaff herself. Her spindle made of 
some precious material, richly ornamented, her beautiful 
work-basket, or rather vase, and the wool dyed of some bright 
hue to render it worthy of being touched by aristocratic fin- 
gers, remind us of the appropriate present which the Egyp- 
tian queen, Alcandra, made to the Spartan Helen ; for the 
beauty of that frail fair one scarcely is less celebrated than her 
skill in embroidery and every species of ornamental work. 
After Polybus had given his presents to Menelaus, who stop- 
ped at Egypt on his return from Troy, 

Alcandra, consort of his high command, 

A golden distaff gave to Helen's hand ; 

And that rich vase, with living sculpture wrought, 

Which, heap'd with wool, the beauteous Phylo brought ; 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 15 

The silken fleece empurpled for the loom, 
Rivall'd thg hyacinth in vernal bloom. 

Odyssey, iv. 

In the hieroglyphics over persons employed with the spindle 
on the Egyptian monuments, it is remarkable that the word 
saht, which in Coptic signifies to twist, constantly occurs. 
The spindles were generally of wood, and in order to increase 
their impetus in turning, the circular head was occasionally of 
gypsum, or composition : some, however, were of a light plait- 
ed work, made of rushes, or palm leaves, stained of various 
colors, and furnished with a loop of the same materials, for 
securing the twine after it was wound*. Sir Gardner Wilkin- 
son found one of these spindles at Thebes, with some of the 
linen thread upon it, and is now in the Berlin Museum. 

Theocritus has given us a very striking proof of the pleas- 
ure which the women of Miletus took in these employments ; 
for, when he went to visit his friend Nicias, the Milesian phy- 
sician, to whom he had previously addressed his eleventh and 
thirteenth Idylls, he carried with him an ivory distaff as a 
present for Theugenis, his friend's wife. He accompanied his 
gift with the following verses, which modestly commend the 
matron's industry and virtue, and, at the same time, throw an 
interesting light on the domestic economy of the ladies of Mi- 
letus : 

O Distaff, friend to warp and woof, 
Minerva's gift in man's behoof, 
Whom careful housewives still retain, 
And gather to their households' gain ; 
With me repair, no vulgar prize, . 
Where the famed towers of Nileus riset, 
Where Cytherea's swayful power 
Is worship'd in the reedy bower. 



* The ordinary distaff does not occur in these subjects, but we may conclude 
they had it. Homer mentions one of gold, given to Helen by " Alcandra tho 
wife of Polybus," who lived in Egyptian Thebes. — Od. iv. 131. 

t Miletus was called " the towers of Nileus," from its having been founded by 
Nileus, the son of the celebrated king Codrus, who devoted himself for the safety 
of Athens. Nileus was so indignant at the abolition of royalty on his father's 
death, that he migrated to Ionia. 



16 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF 

Thither, would Jove kind breezes send, 
I steer my course to meet my friend. 
Nicias, the Graces' honor'd child, 
Adorn'd with sweet persuasion mild, 
That I his kindness may requite — 
May be delighted, and delight. 
Thee, ivory distaff, I provide, 
A present for his blooming bride ; 
With her thou wilt sweet toil partake 
And aid her various vests to make. 
For Theugenis the shepherds shear 
The sheep's soft fleeces twice a year, 
So dearly industry she loves 
And all that wisdom points, approves, 
I ne'er design'd to bear thee hence 
To the dull house of Indolence ; 
For, in that city thou wert framed 
Which Archias built, Corinthian named, — 
Fair Syracuse, Sicilia's pride, 
Where troops of famous men abide. 
Dwell thou with him whose art can cure 
Each dire disease that men endure ; 
Thee to Miletus now I give, 
Where pleasure-crown'd Ionians live ; 
That Theugenis by thee may gain 
Fair honor with the female train ; 
And thou renew within her breast 
Remembrance of her muse-charm'd guest. 
Admiring thee, each maid will call 
The favor great, the present small ; 
For love the smallest gift commends, 
All things are valued by our friends. 

Idyll, xxviii. 

The Roman and Grecian ladies displayed not less taste in 
the decoration of their various spinning implements, than 
those of modern times in the ornaments of their work-table. 
The calathus or qualus was the basket in which the wool 
was kept for the fair spinsters. It was usually made of wick- 
er-work. Thus Catullus in his description of the nuptials of 
Peleus and Thetis, says : 

The softest fleeces, white as driven snow, 
Beside their feet in osier baskets glow. 

Poema, Ixiv. 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 17 

Homer asserts that the Egyptian queen Alcandra presented 
Helen with a silver work-basket as well as a golden distaff 
(Odyss. iv.) ; and from the paintings on ancient vases, we 
see that the calathi of ladies of rank were tastefully wrought 
and richly ornamented. From the term qualus or quasillus, 
equivalent to calathus, the Romans called the female slaves 
employed in spinning quasillarica. 

The material prepared for spinning was wrapped loosely 
round the distaff, the wool being previously combed, or the flax 
hackled by processes not very dissimilar to those used at the 
present day amongst the peasantry in the west of Ireland. 
The ball thus formed on the distaff required to be arranged 
with some neatness and skill, in order that the fibres should 
be sufficiently loose to be drawn out by the hand of the spin- 
ner. Ovid declares, that Arachne's skill in this simple process 
excited the wonder of the nymphs who came to see her tri- 
umphs fn the texile art, not less than the finished labors of 
the loom. 

Oft, to admire the niceness of her skill, 
The nymphs would quit their fountain, shade, or hill : 
Thither from green Tymolus they repair, 
And leave the vineyards, their peculiar care ; 
Thither from fair Pactolus' golden stream, 
Drawn by her art, the curious Naids came. 
. Nor would the work, when finish'd, please so much 
As while she wrought to view each graceful touch ; 
Whether the shapeless wool in balls she wound, 
Or with quick motion turn'd the spindle round. 

Met, vi. 

The distaff was generally about three feet in length, com- 
monly a stick or reed, with an expansion near the top for 
holding the ball. It was sometimes, as we have shown, 
composed of richer materials. The distaff was usually held 
under the left arm, and the fibres were drawn out from the 
projecting ball, being, at the same time, spirally twisted by the 
forefinger and thumb of the right hand. The thread so pro- 
duced was wound upon the spindle until the quantity was as 
great as it would carry. 

The spindle was made of some fight wood, or reed, and was 

3 



18 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF 

generally from eight to twelve inches in length. At the top 
of it was a slit, or catch, to which the thread was fixed, so 
that the weight of the spindle might carry the thread down to 
the ground as fast as it was finished. Its lower extremity was 
inserted into a whorl, or wheel, made of stone, metal, or some 
heavy material which both served to keep it steady and to pro- 
mote its rotation. The spinner, who, as we have said before, 
was usually a female, every now and then gave the spindle a 
fresh gyration by a gentle touch so as to increase the twist of 
the thread. Whenever the spindle reached the ground a length 
was spun ; the thread was then taken out of the slit, or clasp, 
and wound upon the spindle ; the clasp was then closed again, 
and the spinning of a new thread commenced. All these cir- 
cumstances are briefly mentioned by Catullus, in a poem from 
which we have already quoted : — 

The loaded distaff, in the left hand placed, 

With spongy coils of snow-white wool was graced ; 

From these the right hand lengthening fibres drew 

Which into thread 'neath nimble fingers grew. 

At intervals a gentle touch was given 

By which the twirling whorl was onward driven. 

Then, when the sinking spindle reach'd the ground, 

The recent thread around its spire was wound, 

Until the clasp within its nipping cleft 

Held fast the newly-finish'd length of weft. 

In order to understand this description of Catullus, it is ne- 
cessary to bear in mind, that as the bobbin of each spindle 
was loaded with thread, it was taken off from the whorl and 
placed in a basket until there was a sufficient quantity for the 
weavers to commence their operations. 

Homer incidentally mentions the spool or spindle on which 
the weft-yarn was wound, in his description of the race at the 
funeral-games in honor of Patroclus : 

Oileus led the race ; 
The next Ulysses, measuring pace with pace 
Behind him, diligently close he sped, 
As closely following as the running thread 
The spindle follows, and displays the charms 
Of the fair spinner's breast, and moving arms. 

Iliad, xxiii. 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 19 

In India women of all castes prepare the cotton thread for 
the weaver, spinning it on a piece of wire, or a very thin rod 
of polished iron with a ball of clay at one end ; this they turn 
round with the left hand, and supply the cotton with the right ; 
the thread is then wound upon a stick or pole, and sold to the 
merchants or weavers ; for the coarser thread the women make 
use of a wheel very similar to that of the Irish spinster, 
though upon a smaller construction. (For further information 
on the manufactures of India, their present state, &c, see 
Part III.) 

The Reverend Mr. C. Forster of Great Britain, has lately 
published a very curious work on Arabia, being the result of 
many years' untiring research in that part of the world ; from 
which we learn the very interesting fact, that the ancient 
Arabians were skilled in the manufacture of silken textures, 
at as remote a period as within 500 years of the flood ! 

Mr. Forster has, it appears, succeeded in deciphering many 
very remarkable inscriptions found on some ancient monuments 
near Adon on the coast of Hadramant. These records, it is 
said, restore to the world its earliest written language, and carry 
us back to the time of Jacob, and within 500 years of the 
flood. 

The inscriptions are in three parts. The longest is of ten 
lines, engraved on a smooth piece of rock forming one side of 
the terrace at Hisn Ghorab. Then there are three short lines, 
found on a small detached rock on the summit of the little hill. 
There are also two lines found near the inscriptions, lower 
down the terrace. They all relate to one transaction, an in- 
cident in Adite history. The tribe of Ad, according to Mr. 
Sale, were descended from Ad the son of Aws or Uz, the son 
of Aram, the son of Shem, the son of Noah. The event re- 
corded is the rout and entire destruction of the sons of Ac an 
Arab tribe, by the Aws or tribe of Ad, whom they invaded. In 
Mr. Forster's book fac similes are given of the inscription • the 
Aditie and the Hamyaritie alphabet ; and a glossary containing 
every word in them, its derivation, and its explanation ; with 
notes of copious illustration upon every point which they in- 
volve. The first inscription of ten lines is thus translated : 



20 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP 

We dwelt, living long luxuriously in the zananas of this spacious mansion ; oui 
condition exempt from misfortune and adversity. Rolled in through our chan- 
nel. 

The sea, swelling against our castle with angry surge ; our fountains flowed with 
murmuring fall, above 

The lofty palms ; whose keepers planted dry dates in our valley date-grounds ; 
they sowed the arid rice. 

We hunted the young mountain-goats and the young hares, with gins and snares ; 
beguiling we drew forth the fishes. 

We walked with slow, proud gait, IN NEEDLE-WORKED, MANY-COL- 
ORED SILK VESTMENTS, IN WHOLE SILKS, IN GRASS-GREEN 
CHEQUERED ROBES*! 

Over us presided kings, far removed from baseness, and stern chastisers of repro- 
bate and wicked men. They noted down for us according to the doctrine of 
Heber, 

Good judgments, written in books to be kept ; and we proclaimed our belief in mir- 
acles, in the resurrection, in the return into the nostrils of the breath of life 

Made an inroad robbers, and would do us violence ; we rode forth, we and our 
generous youth, with stiff and sharp-pointed spears ; rushing onward. 

Proud champions of our families and wives ; fighting valiantly upon coursers with 
long necks, dun-colored, iron-gray, and bright bay. 

With our swords still wounding and piercing our adversaries, until charging home, 
we conquered and crushed this refuse of mankind. 

On the subject of these inscriptions, Mr. Forster, in the dedi- 
cation of his book to the Archbishop of Canterbury, thus re- 
marks : " What Job (who, living in the opposite quarter of 
Arabia, amid the sands of the great Northern desert, had no 
lasting material within reach on which to perpetuate his 
thoughts,) so earnestly desired, stands here realized." " Oh 
that my w T ords were now written ! Oh that they were printed 
in a Book ! That (like the kindred creed of the lost tribe of 
Ad) they were graven with an iron pen, and lead, in the 
rock forever. (For mine is a better and brighter revelation 
than theirs.) For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that 
he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth ; and though, 
after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in the flesh shall I 
see God : whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall be- 
hold, and not another." 



* Silk is the only material used for human clothing which Mohammed, the im- 
postor, introduces among the luxuries of Paradise. (See the Koran, chap. 35.) 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 21 

That the Arabians should have understood the manufacture 
of silken textures at as remote a period as that supposed by Mr. 
Forster, viz., 500 years after the flood, is, to say the least of it, 
exceedingly questionable, yet it cannot be denied that we are 
indebted to them for many useful inventions, and among which 
may be mentioned the art of making cotton paper*. It is no 
less true that we first received our cotton-wool from countries 
where the Arabic language was spoken. 

To the Arabs also we are indebted for that almost indispen- 
sable article of apparel, the shirt, the Arabic name for which is 
camees, whence the Italian camiscia, and the French chemise^. 

In the attempt here made to trace from the dark ages of 
antiquity the progress of trades and manufactures so widely 
diffused over the civilised world as those of cotton, linen, silk, 
wool, &c.j chronological order is followed as closely as the 
nature of the inquiry will permit. 

* See Appendix B. 

t For further information on Arabia, see Parts II. and III. 



CHAPTER II. 



HISTORY OF THE SILK MANUFACTURE CONTINUED 
TO THE FOURTH CENTURY. 



SPINNING, DYEING, AND WEAVING. HIGH DEGREE OF EXCELLENCE 

ATTAINED IN THESE ARTS. 

Testimony of the Latin Poets of the Augustan age — Tibullus — Propertius — Virgil 
— Horace — Ovid — Dyonisius Perigetes — Strabo. Mention of silk by authors in 
the first century — Seneca the Philosopher — Seneca the Tragedian — Lucan — 
Pliny — Josephus — Saint John — Silius Italicus — Statius — Plutarch — Juvenal — 
Martial — Pausanias — Galen — Clemens Alexandrinus — Caution to Christian 
converts against the use of silk in dress. Mention of silk by authors in the 
second century — Tertullian — Apuleius — Ulpian — Julius Pollux — Justin. Men- 
tion of silk by authors in the third century — iElius Lampidius — Vopiscus — 
Trebellius Pollio — Cyprian — Solinus — Ammianus Marcellinus — Use of silk by 
the Roman emperors — Extraordinary beauty of the textures — Use of water to 
detach silk from the trees — Invectives of these authors against extravagance in 
dress — The Seres described as a happy people — Their mode of traffic, etc. — 
(Macpherson's opinion of the Chinese.) — City of Dioscurias, its vast commerce in 
former times. — (Colonel Syke's account of the Kolissura silk -worm — Dr. Rox- 
burgh's description of the Tusseh silk -worm.) 

The next Authors, who make mention of silk, are the Latin 
poets of the Augustan age, Tibullus and Propertius, Virgil, 
Horace, and Ovid. The Parthian war, and the increased in- 
tercourse between the Roman empire and the kingdoms of the 
East, had been the means of recently introducing every kind 
of silken goods into more general use, although these manufac- 
tures were still so rare as to be the objects of curiosity and ad- 
miration, and were therefore well adapted to be brought in 
among the embellishments of poetical imagery. 

The appearance of the silken flags attached to the gilt 
standards of the Parthians (Florus iii. 11.) must have been a 
very striking sight for the army of Crassus, contributing both 
to inflame their cupidity and to alarm them with a sense of the 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 23 

power of their opponents. The conflict here referred to took 
place in the year 54 B. C. In about 30 years after this date 
the Roman empire obtained its greatest extension. In the lan- 
guage of Petronius Arbiter (c. 119.), 

Th' insatiate Roman spread his conquering arms 
O'er land and sea, where'er heaven's light extends. 

After these words he says, that among the richest produc- 
tions of distant climates the Seres sent their "new fleeces." 
The remotest countries thus contributed to increase the luxury 
of Rome, and we shall now see how silk, one of the most costly 
and the most admired of its recent acquisitions, was used by its 
poets to represent the polish of elevated life and to adorn their 
language with rich and beautiful allusions. The webs, which 
they mention, are either those still obtained from Cos, or those 
imported from the country of the Seres. 

TIBULLUS. 

A Coan vest for girls. 

L. ii. 4. 

She may thin garments wear, which female Coan hands 
Have woven, and in stripes dispos'd the golden bands. 

L. ii. 6. 

The latter of these two passages is remarkable as showing 
that the Coan women practised the elegant art of interweaving 
gold thread in their silken webs. The gold was no doubt dis- 
played in transverse stripes. 

PROPERTIUS. 

Why thus, my life, display thy braided hair, 

And heave beneath thin Coan webs thy bosom fair? 

L. i. 2. 

In the next passage Propertius is speaking of his own Poetry, 
and alludes to his frequent mention of Coan garments. 

If bright she walk in Coan vest array'd, 
Through all this book will Coan be display'd. 

L. ii. 1. 



24 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP 



ON A STATUE OF VERTUMNDS. 

My nature suits each changing form : 
Turn'd into what you please, I'm fair. 
Clothe me in Coan, I'm a decent lass, 
Put on a toga, for a man I pass. 

L. iv. 2. 

The texture of the Coan Minerva. 

L. iv. 5. 

Who gives no Coan rohe, but verse instead, 
Artless shall be his lyre, his verses dead. 

Ibid. 

The same poet (L. iv. 8. 23.) mentions " Serica carpenta," 
chariots with silk curtains ; and the following line (L. i. 14. 22.) 
shows, that couches with ornamented silk covers were then in 
use: 

Quid revelant variis Serica textilibus? 

Propertius also mentions silk under the name of the animal r 
which produced it: 

Shines with the produce of th' Arabian worm. 

L. ii. 3. 15. 

In this line, as well as in some of those before quoted, he al- 
ludes to the use of silk by females of indifferent character. He 
probably uses the epithet Arabian, because the Roman mer- 
chants obtained silk from the Arabs, who received it from 
Persia. 

VIRGIL. 

Soft wool from downy groves the jEthiop weaves, 
And Seres comb their fleece from silken leaves. 

Georg. ii. 120, 121.— Sotheby's Translation. 

The poet is here enumerating the chief productions of dif- 
ferent countries, and therefore mentions cotton and silk. The 
idea, that silk webs were manufactured from thin fleeces ob- 
tained from trees, will be found recurring in many of the sub- 
sequent citations. It may have been founded on reports brought 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 25 

by the soldiers of Crassus, or by others who visited the interior 
of Asia about the same period. 

HORACE. 

Nor Coan purples, nor the blaze 
Of jewels can bring back the days, 
Which, fix'd by time, recorded stand, 
By all, who read the Fasti, scann'd. 

Od. I. iv. 13. (ad Lycen.) 13-16. 

As if uncloth'd, she stands confess'd 
In a translucent Coan vest. 

Sat. i. 2. 101. 

These passages allude to the fineness and transparency of 
silken webs, which in the time of Horace were worn at Rome 
only by prostitutes, or by those women who aimed at being as 
attractive and luxurious as possible in their attire. 

The former passage shows, that the silks manufactured in 
Cos were dyed with the murex, " Cose purpuras." 

The expression " Sericos pulvillos" (Epod. 8. 15.) has been 
supposed to denote small cushions covered with silk. But the 
epithet " Sericos" implies nothing more than that they were ob- 
tained from the Seres, who supplied the Romans with skins as 
well as silk*; and leather seems to have been a more proper 
substance than silk for making cushions. 



OVID. 

Sive erit in Tyriis, Tyrios laudabis amictus, 

Sive erit in Cois, Coa decere puta. 
Aurata est : ipso tibi sit pretiosior auro ; 

Gausapa si sttmsit, gausapa sumta proba. 

Ars Amat. ii. 297-300. 

Whatever clothing she displays, 
From Tyre or Cos, that clothing praise : 
If gold shows forth the artist's skill, 
Call her than gold more precious still : 
Or if she choose a coasre attire, 
E'en coarseness, worn by her, admire. 



* Plin. xxxiv. cap. 24. 



26 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP 

In another passage (Amores i. 14. 5.) Ovid compares the 
thin hairs of a lady to the silken veils of the Seres, 

Veils such as color'd Seres wear. 

We now proceed to the testimonies of authors who wrote 
either in Greek or Latin at the latter part of the Augustan age. 
or immediately after it. 

DYONISIUS PERIEGETES. 

Kai iOvea Bapfiapa Uripiov, 
Ol'rs 0oas \dv avaivovrai Kal itpia f/ijAa, 
AioAa 5i £aivovT£s ipfi^rjg ai/dea yairis, 
Ei'fiara Tcd^nvcriv Tro\vSaiia\a ) Tijxficvra } 
TLlSofiEva xpoirj Xei^uciiJci; avBcai iroiris' 
Keivois ovti K£i' tpyov dpa^yawv ipiaeiev- (I. 755.) 

And the barbarous nations of the Seres, who renounce the care of sheep and 
oxen, but comb the variously colored flowers of the desert land to make precious 
figured garments, resembling in color the flowers of the meadow, and rivalling 
(in fineness) the work of spiders. — Yates's Translation. 

It is worthy of observation that Dyonisius speaks expressly 
not only of the fineness of the thread, but of the flowered tex- 
ture of the silk. 

STRABO. 

Toiavra Si Kal ra jlripiKoij sk tl vmv tp\oiuyv i^aivopivris ffvaaov. 

L. xv. 695. (v. vi. p. 40. TzschucJce.) 

This is repeated by Eustathius on Dyonisius Periegetes*. 
The account seems to have been taken by Strabo, perhaps in- 
accurately, from Nearchus. It is doubtful, whether E^iko de- 
noted silken webs in this passage. But whatever Strabo meant, 
he supposed the raw material to be scraped from the bark of 
treesf. 

As contemporary with the authors last quoted, Dyonisius and 
Strabo, we may here mention the law passed by the Roman 
Senate early in the reign of Tiberius, " Ne vestis Serica viros 
fcedaret." Taciti Annaies, ii. 33. Dion. Cass. I. 57. p. 860. 



* L. 1107. p. 308, Bernhardy. t Book ii. ch. 3. p. 307. 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 27 

Reim. Suidas in v. Ttfipius*. Silk was to be worn by women 
only. 

The next emperor Caligula had silk curtains to his throne 
[Dion. Cass. I. 59. p. 915. Reim.), and he wore silk as part of 
his dress, when he appeared in public. Dio Cassius particularly 
mentions, that, when he was celebrating a kind of triumph at 
Puteoli, he put on what he alleged to be the thorax of Alex- 
ander, and over that a silken chlamys, dyed with the murex, 
and adorned with gold and precious stones. On the following 
day he wore a tunic interwoven with goldt. The use of 
shawls and tunics of silk was, however, except in the case 
of the extravagances of a Caligula, still confined to the fe- 
male sex. Under the earlier emperors it is probable, that silk 
was obtained in considerable quantities for the wardrobe of the 
empress, where it was preserved from one reign to another, until 
in the year 176 Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the philosopher, in 
consequence of the exhausted state of his treasury, sold by pub- 
lic auction in the Forum of Trajan the imperial ornaments and 
jewels together with the golden and silken robes of the Em- 
press}:. 

FIRST CENTURY. 

SENECA, THE PHILOSOPHER. 

Posse nos vestitos esse sine commercio Serum. — Epist. 91. 

We may clothe ourselves without any commerce with the Seres. 

Video Sericas vestes, si vestes vocandse sunt, in quibus nihil est, quo defendi aut 
corpus aut denique pudor possit : quibus sumtis mulier parum liquido nudam se 
non esse jurabit. Hiec ingenti summa ab ignotis etiam ad commercium gentibus 
accersunter, ut matrons nostras ne adulteris quidem plus sui in cubiculo quam in 
publico ostendant. — De Beneficiis, L. vii. c. 9. 

I see silken (Seric) garments, if they can be called garments, which cannot 
afford any protection either for the body or for shame : on taking which a woman 
will scarce with a clear conscience deny, that she is naked. These are sent for 

* Dio Cassius (1. 43. p. 358. Rheim.) mentions as a report, that Julius Ccesar 
employed silk curtains (n-apaTOrao-^ara TinpiKa) to add to the splendor of his triumph. 

t In describing the effeminate dress of the emperor Caligula, Suetonius tells us 
(cap. 52), that he often went into public, wearing bracelets and long sleeves, and 
sometimes in a garment of silk and a cyclas. 

t Jul. Capitol, c. xvii. p. 65. Bip. 



28 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF 

at an enormous price from nations, to which our commerce has not yet extended, 
in order that our matrons may display their persons to the public no less than to 
adulterers in their chamber ! — Yates's Translation. 

The Seres must be supposed to have dwelt somewhere in the 
centre of Asia. Perhaps those geographers who represent Lit- 
tle Bucharia as their country*, are nearest the truth, and thus 
far neither Greeks nor Romans had penetrated. Silk was 
brought to them " from nations, to which even their commerce 
had not yet extended." Hence their inaccurate ideas respecting 
its originf. 

SENECA, THE TRAGEDIAN. 

Nee Maeonia distinguit acu, 
Qua? Phoebeis subditus Euris 
Legit Eois Ser arboribus. 

Here. (Etaus, 664. 

Nor with Masonian needle marks the web, 
Gather'd by Eastern Seres from the trees. 

Seres, illustrious for their fleece. 

Thyestes, 378. 
Remove, ye maids, the vests, whose tissue glares 
With purple and with gold ; far be the red 
Of Tyrian murex, and the shining thread, 
Which furthest Seres gather from the boughs. 

Hyppolitus, 386. (Phcedra loquitur.) 

At a very early period the art of dyeing had been carried to 
a very great degree of perfection in Phoenicia. The method 
of dyeing woollen cloths purple was, it is said, first discovered at 
Tyre. This color, the most celebrated among the ancients, 
appears to have been brought to a degree of excellence, of 
which we can form but a very faint idea : 

* The position of Serica is discussed by Latreille in his paper hereafter cited. 
See also Mannert. iv. 6. 6, 7. Brotier, Mem. de l'Acad. des Inscrip. torn. 46. 
John Reinhold Forster (De Bysso, p. 20, 21.) thinks that Little Bucharia was 
certainly the ancient Serica. Sir John Barrow (Travels in China, p. 435-438.) 
thinks the Seres were not the Chinese. 

t The first author who speaks of the Seres as a distinct nation, is Mela, iii. 7. 
He describes them as a very honest people, who brought what they had to sell, 
laid it down and went away, and then returned for the price of it. The same 
account is given by Eustathius, on Dyonisius, 1. 752. p. 242, Bernhardy. 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 29 

" In oldest times, when kings and hardy chiefs 
In bleating sheep-folds met, for purest wool 
Phoenicia's hilly tracts were most renown'd, 
And fertile Syria's and Judaea's land, 
Hermon, and Seir, and Hebron's brooky sides, 
Twice with the murex, crimson hue, they ting'd 
The shining fleeces — hence their gorgeous wealth ; 
And hence arose the walls of ancient Tyre*." 

LUCAN. 

Candida Sidonio perlucent pectora filo, 
Quod Nilotis acus percussum pectine Serum 
Solvit, et extenso laxavit stamina velo. 

L.x. 141. 
Her snowy breast shines through Sidonian threads, 
First by the comb of distant Seres struck, 
Divided then by Egypt's skilful toil, 
And with embroidery transparent made. 

The poet is describing the dress of Cleopatra. He supposes 
her to have worn over her oreast a piece of silk, woven by the 
Seres, imported through Sidon into Egypt, and then embroider- 
ed. By the last process, in which the Egyptians greatly excell- 
ed, the threads were in part separated, so as to exhibit the ap- 
pearance of lace, and to allow the white breast of the queen to 
be visible through the texture. 

Amidst the braidings of her flowing hair, 

The spoils of orient rocks and shells appear : 

Like midnight stars, ten thousand diamonds deck 

The comely rising of her graceful neck ; 

Of wondrous work, a thin transparent lawn 

O'er each soft breast in decency was drawn, 

Where still by turns the parting threads withdrew, 

And all the panting bosom rose to view. 

Her robe, her every part, her air confess 

The power of female skill exhausted in her dress. 

Pharsalia, x. 
In glowing purple rich the coverings lie, 
Twice had they drunk the noblest Tyrian dye 
Others, as Pharian artists have the skill 
To mix the party-color'd web at will, 



* Old Tyre was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar in the second year after the 
destruction of Jerusalem, or 584 B. C. 



30 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF 

With winding trails of various silks were made, 
Whose branching gold set off the rich brocade. 

Ibid. 

With this description we compare that of Seneca, which rep- 
resents silk as embroidered in Asia Minor, with the " Mseonian 
needle." 

PLINY 

speaks copiously and repeatedly of the manufacture of silk. 
Nevertheless we learn from him scarce anything-, which we did 
not know from the earlier authorities. His accounts are taken 
from Aristotle, from Yarro, and probably also from persons who 
accompanied the Parthian expeditions, or who engaged in the 
trade with inner Asia. But according to his usual manner, 
when he speaks of what he has not himself seen, he confounds 
accounts from different witnesses, which are inconsistent with 
one another. He asserts that the bombyx was a native of Cos ; 
but it is not probable that the women of that island would, in 
such case, have recourse to the laborious operation of convert- 
ing foreign finished goods into threads for their own weaving. 
It is, therefore, only reasonable to suppose, that whatever man- 
ufacture was carried on from the raw material, was, like that 
of Tyre or Berytus, composed of unwrought silk imported from 
the East. It is mentioned both by Theophanes and Zonares, 
the Byzantine historians, that before silk-worms were brought to 
Constantinople in the middle of the sixth century, no person in 
that capital knew that silk was produced by a worm ; a toler- 
ably strong evidence that none were reared so near to Constan- 
tinople as Cos. 

Pliny's account of the Coan bombyx is evidently a cloud of 
fable and absurdity, in which, however, we may discern a few 
lines of truth, probably derived from the accounts of the silk- 
worm of the Seres. 

JOSEPHUS 

says, that the emperors Titus and Vespasian wore silk dresses*, 
when they celebrated at Home their triumph over the Jews. 

* De Bello Jud. vii. 5. 4. 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 31 



SAINT JOHN. 

Silk (EofH/fov) occurs but once in the New Testament, Rev. 
xviii. 12. It is here mentioned in a curious enumeration of all 
the most valuable articles of foreign traffic. 

SILIUS ITALICUS. 

Seres lanigeris repetebant vellera lucis. Tunica, vi. 4. 
Seres took fleeces from the woolly groves. 

Munera rubri 
Prseterea Ponti, depexaque vellera ramis, 
Feminens labor. lb. xiv. 664. 
The produce of the Erythraean seas, 
And fleeces comb'd by women from the trees*. 

Videre Eoi (monstrum admirabile !) Seres 
Lanigeros cinere Ausonio canescere lucos. 

lb. xvii. 595, 596. 
The Seres' woolly groves, O wondrous sight ! 
In the far East, were with Italian ashes white. 

In the last passage Silius is describing the effects of the re- 
cent eruption of Mount Vesuvius, A. D. 79. That its ashes 
should reach the country of the Seres, whether it was in Persia 
or China, would indeed have been " Monstrum admirabile !" 

STATIUS. 

Seric (i. e. silken) palls. 

SylvcB, iii. 4. 89. 

PLUTARCH 

dissuades the virtuous and prudent wife from wearing silkf. 
He mentions, that webs of silk and fine linen were at the same 
time thin and compact or closet 



* See latter part of Chapter viii. Part First. 

t Conjugailia Prascepta, torn. vi. p. 550. ed. Reiske. 

t De Pythiee Orac. c. iv. p. 557. Reiske. 



32 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF 



JUVENAL 

speaks of women, 

Quarum 
Delicias et panniculus bombycinus urit. Sat. vi. 259. 
Whose beauty e'en a silken veil o'erheats. 

MARTIAL. 

Nee vaga tam tenui discursat aranea tela, 

Tam levo nee bombyx pendulus urget opus. L. viii. 33 
The spider traces not so thin a line, 
Nor does the pendent silk-worm spin so fine. 

Fcemineum lucet sic per bombycina corpus, 

Calculus in nitida sic numeratur aqua. L. viii. 68. 
Thus through her silk a lady's body looks, 
Thus count we pebbles in the sparkling brooks. 

De Pallatinis dominse quod Serica prelis. 

L. xi. 9. 

Here Martial alludes to the employment of presses (prela) lor 
preserving the garments of silk and other precious materials, 
belonging to the Empress, in the same way, in which we now 
use presses to keep table-linen. He says to a lady (L. ix. 38.), 

Nee dentes alitor, quam Serica, nocte reponas. 
\ Your teeth at night, like silks, you lay aside. 

In another passage (L. xi. 27.) he speaks of silken goods 
(/Serica) as procurable in the Vicus Tuscus at Rome : and 
lastly in L. xiv. Ep. 24, he mentions ribbons or fillets of silk as 
used for adorning the hair. 

Tenuia ne madidi violent bombycina crines, 

Figat acus tortas, sustineatque comas. 
Lest your moist hair defile the ribbons thin, 
Twist it in knots, and fix it with a pin. 

PAUSANIAS, 

a native of Asia Minor, and an inquisitive traveller in the 
second century, gives the following distinct account of Sericum 
according to the ideas received among the Greeks in his time. 

The threads from which the Seres make webs, are not the produce of bark, but 
are obtained in the following manner. There is an animal in that country, which 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 33 

the Greeks call Ser, but which they call by some other name. Its size is twice 
that of the largest beetle. In other respects it resembles the spiders, which weave 
under the trees. It has also the same number of feet as the spider, namely, 
eight*. In order to breed these creatures, the Seres have houses adapted both for 
summer and winter. The produce of the animal is a fine thread twisted about its 
legs. The Seres feed it four years on " panicum." In the fifth year they give it 
green reed, of which it is so fond as to eat of it until it bursts, and after this the 
greatest part of the thread is found within its bodyt. 

The most interesting circumstance, mentioned by Pausanias, 
is the breeding of the silk-worms within doors in houses adapt- 
ed both for summer and winter. There seems no reason to 
doubt the truth of this fact ; and, if admitted, it proves, that 
their country, the Serica of the ancients, lay so far North, or 
was so elevated, as to have a great difference of temperature in 
summer and in winter. It is remarkable, that in China the 
worms are now reared in small houses, and this practice has 
long prevailed in that country t. 

GALEN 

recommends silk thread for tying blood-vessels in surgical opera 
tions, observing that the opulent women in many parts of the 
Roman empire possessed such thread, especially in the great 
cities§. He also mentions cloths of silk and gold in his treatise, 
c. 9. (Hippocratis et Galeni Opp. ed. Chartier, torn. vi. p. 
533.) : 

" Of this kind are the shawls interwoven with gold, the materials of which are 
brought from afar, and which are called Seric or silk." 

CLEMENS ALEXANDRINUS, 

dissuading the Christian convert from luxury in dress, thus 
speaks : 

Et <5£ o-vinrEpKpspsaBai %p»;, oXiyov IvSortov avTai; ^aKaKoiripois %prja9ai roX^ytjicKj^aaiv' 

* This does not apply to the silk-worm, which has sixteen legs, in pairs : six 
proper legs before, and ten holders behind. (See Figure 1, Plate iii.) 

t L. vi. 26. p. 125. ed. Siebel. 

t Barrow's Travels in China, p. 437, &c. Resume des Traites Chinois, &c. 
traduit par Julien, p. 70-72. 77-80. The practice is here shown to have pre- 
vailed as early as the fifth century B. C. 

§ Methodus Medendi, 1. xiii. c. 22. 

5 



34 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP 

jaovov rag [xenapriixevas Xtirrotipyiaf, xal ras \v raTg vipais -Kepiipyovg irXoms liciroSayv /udiarravTag' 
vrjpa xpvaov, /cai ofjpas 'IvSikovs, Kal tov; nepupyovs pojifivica; %aipeiv luvrag, 8s (TKcHXti^ 
(pvtrai to -rrpwTov' eira t| airov SatreTa dviupaivcrai (ca/CTfj. jie6' l]v ti's rpiir\v /Mra^o'p^ aim j» 
veo^jxoiiTai 0Ojj0i\iov' ot Si veKv&akov airo naXovaiv e| ov fiaKpo; tiktstcll CTfjjj.asv 3 
Kaddirep Ik rfji dpdy^ris b rrjs dpd^vri; jiiTOS.-. — Pcedag. ii. 10. 

But, if it is necessary to accommodate ourselves to the women, let us concede to 
them the use of cloths, which are a little softer, only refusing that degree of fine- 
ness, which would imply folly, and such webs as are excessively labored and in- 
tricate ; bidding farewell to gold thread, and to the Indian Seres, and that indus- 
trious bombyx, which is first a worm, then puts on the appearance of a hairy cat- 
erpillar, and hence passes, in the third place, into a Bombylius, or, as some call 
it, a Necydalus ; and out of which is produced a long thread, in the same man- 
ner as the thread of the spider. — Yates's Translation. 

The use of the epithet " Indian" in this passage may be ac- 
counted for from the circumstance, that in the time of the 
writer silken goods were brought to Alexandria and other cities 
of Egypt from India. Clemens has evidently borrowed this 
description from Aristotle. 

SECOND CENTUM. 

TERTULLIAN. 

thus describes the Bombyx : 

Vermiculi genus est, qui per aerem liquando aranearum horoscopis idoneas 
sedes tendit, dehinc devorat, mox alvo reddere ; proinde si necaveris, animata jam 
stamina volves. 

It is a kind of worm, which extends abodes like the dials of spiders by float- 
ing them through the air. It then devours them so as to restore them to its stom- 
ach. Therefore, if you kill it, you will roll living threads. (See chap, ix.) 

In the same treatise (De Pallio, c. 4.) we find the following 
notice : 

Such as Hercules was in the silk of Omphale. 

Soon after, the same author, speaking of Alexander the 

Great, says, 

Vicerat Medicam gentem, et victus est Medica veste :- pectus squamarum 

signaculis diseulptum, textu pellucido tegendo, nudavit: et anhelum adhuc ab 
opere belli, ut mollius, ventilante serico extinxit. Non erat satis animi tumens 
Macedo, ni ilium etiam vestis inflatior delectasset. 

He had conquered the Medes, and was conquered by a Median garment. 
When his breast exhibited the sculptured resemblances of scales, he covered it 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 35 

with a pellucid texture, which rather laid it bare ; panting from the work of war, 
he cooled and mollified it by the use of silk, exposing it to the wind. It was not 
sufficient for the Macedonian to have a tumid mind ; he required to be delighted 
also with an inflated garment. 

He afterwards says of a philosopher. 

He went wearing a garment of silk, and sandals of brass. 

Again he says of a low character, " She exposes her silk to 
the wind? 

In his treatise on Female Attire he mentions silk in relation 
to Milesian wool, and he concludes that treatise in the following 
terms : 

Manus lanis occupate, pedes domi figite, et plus quam in auro placebitis. Ves- 
tite vos serico probitatis, byssino sanctitatis, purpura pudicitiae. 

Employ your hands with wool ; keep your feet at home. Thus will you please 
more than if you were in gold. Clothe yourselves with the silk of probity, with 
the fine linen of sanctity, and with the purple of modesty. 

Lastly, this author says (Adv. MarcioJiem, I. i. p. 372.), 

Imitare, si potes, apis aedificia, formicss stabula, aranei retia, bombycis stamina. 
Imitate, if thou canst, the constructions of the bee, the retreats of the ant, the 
nets of the spider, the threads of the silk-worm. 

APULEIUS. 

Prodeunt, mitellis, et crocotis, et carbasinis, et bombycinis injecti. * * * Deam- 
que, serico contectam amiculo, mihi gerendam imponunt. Metamorphoseon, I. 
viii. p. 579, 580. ed. Oudendorpii. 

They came forward, wearing ribbons, and cloths of a saffron color, of cotton, 
and of silk, loosely thrown over them. * * * And they place on me the Goddess 
covered with a small silken scarf, to be carried by me. 

Hie incinctus baltheo militem gerebat ; ilium succinctum chlamyde, copides et 
venabula venatorem fecerant ; alius soccis obauratis, indutus serica veste, mun- 
doque pretioso, et adtextis capite crinibus, insessu perfluo feminam mentiebatur. 
Ibid. I. xi. p. 769. 

One performed the part of a soldier, girt with a sword ; another had his chla- 
mys tucked up by a belt, and carried scimitars and hunting-poles, as if engaged 
in the chace ; another, wearing gilt slippers, a silken tunic, precious ornaments, 
and artificial hair, by his flowing attire represented a woman. 

ULPIAN. 

Yossius, in his Etymologicum Linguce Latina, in the 
learned and copious article Sericum, says, " Inter sericum et 



36 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF 

bombycinum discrimen ponit Ulpianus, 1. xxiii. de aur. arg-. 
leg-. ' Vestimentorum sunt omnia lanea, lineaque, vel serica, 
vel bombycina.' " 

JULIUS POLLUX. 

The Bombyces are worms, which emit from themselves threads, like the spider. 
Some say, that the Seres collect their webs from animals of this kind. L. vii. 76. 
p. 741. — Kuhn 

JUSTIN 

evidently refers to the use of silken garments in his account of 
the customs of the Parthians, where he says. 

They formerly dressed after their own fashion. After they became rich, they 
adopted the pellucid and flowing garments of the Medes. L. xli. c. 2. 

All doubt, whether the transparent garments, mentioned by 
Justin, were of silk, must be removed by the authority of Pro- 
copius, from whom we shall hereafter cite ample and important 
testimony in reference to the time when he lived, and who in 
the two following passages expressly states, that the webs, 
called by the Greeks in his time Seric, were more anciently de- 
nominated Median. 

Among the valuable and curious effects of the emperor 
Commodus, which after his death (A. D. 192.) were sold by his 
successor Pertinax, was a garment with a woof of silk, of a 
bright yellow color, the appearance of which was more beau- 
tiful than if the material had been interwoven with threads of 
gold*. 

THIRD CENTURY. 

The authorities now quoted supply evidence respecting the 
use of silk among the Greeks and Romans down to the end of 
the second century. It is rarely mentioned by any writer be- 
longing to the following centuryt ; so far as we have discovered, 



* Vestis subtegmine serico, aureis filis insignior. — Jul. Capitolini Pertinax, c. 8. 
in Scrip. Hist. Augusts. 

t Mannert (Geogr. iv. 6. 7. p. 517.) attributes the excessive dearness of silk in 
the third century to the victories of the Persians, which at that time cut off all 
direct communication between Serica and the western world. 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 37 

only by the three historians now to be quoted, by Cyprian, and 
by Solinus. But we have from these historians some remark- 
able accounts of the regard paid to it by the emperors Heliogab- 
alus, Alexander Severus, Aurelian, Claudius II., Tacitus, and 
Carinus, all of whom reigned in the third century. 

jElius Lampridius says (c. 26.), that the profligate and 
effeminate emperor Heliogabalus was the first Roman, who 
wore cloth made wholly of silk, the silk having been formerly 
combined with other less valuable materials, and, in consequence 
of his example, the custom of wearing silk soon became gen- 
eral among the wealthy citizens of Rome. He mentions (c. 33) 
among the innumerable extravagances of this emperor, that 
he had prepared a silken rope of purple and scarlet colors to 
hang himself with. 

Of the emperor Alexander Severus he says (c. 40), that he 
himself had few garments of silk, that he never wore a tunic 
made wholly of silk, and that he never gave away cloth made 
of silk mixed with less valuable materials. 

The following is the testimony of Flavius Yopiscus in his life 
of the emperor Aurelian. 

Aurelian neither had himself in his wardrobe a garment wholly of silk, nor 
gave one to be worn by another. When his own wife begged him to allow her to 
have a single shawl of purple silk, he replied, Far be it from us to permit thread 
to be reckoned worth its weight in gold. For a pound of gold was then the price 
of a pound of silk. c. 45. 

Although the above mentioned restrictions in the use of silk 
may be partly accounted for from the usual severity of Aure- 
lian's character, yet the facts here stated abundantly show the 
rarity and high value of this material in that age. 

Flavius Yopiscus further states, that the emperor Tacitus made 
it unlawful for men to wear silk unmixed with cheaper mate- 
rials. Carinus, on the other hand, made presents of silken 
garments, as well as of gold and silver, to Greek artificers, and 
to wrestlers, players, and musicians. 

Trebellius Pollio, in his life of Claudius II. (c. 14 and 
17.), twice mentions white garments of silk mixed with cheaper 
materials, which were destined for that emperor. 



38 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF 



CYPRIAN, 

Bishop of Carthage in the third century, inveighs in the follow- 
ing terms against the use of silk : 

Tu licet indumenta peregrina et vestes sericas induas, nuda es. Auro te licet et 
margaritis gemmisque condecores, sine Christi decore deformis es. De Lapsis, p. 
135. ed. Fell. 

Although thou shouldest put on a tunic of foreign silk, thou art naked ; al- 
though thou shouldest beautify thyself with gold, and pearls, and gems, without 
the beauty of Christ thou art unadorned. 

Also in his treatise on the dress of Virgins he says, 

Sericum et purpuram indutiE, Christum induere non possunt : auro et margari- 
tis et monilibus adornatre, ornamenta cordis et pectoris perdiderunt. 

Those who put on silk and purple, cannot put on Christ : women, adorned with 
gold and pearls and necklaces, have lost the ornaments of the heart and of the 
breast. 

In the same place he gives us a translation of the well- 
known passage of Isaiah enumerating the luxuries of female 
attire among the Jews : " In that day the Lord will take away 
the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and 
their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, the chains, 
and the bracelets, and the mufflers, the bonnets, and the 
ornaments of the legs, and the head-bands, and the tablets, 
and the ear-rings, the rings, and nose-jewels, the changeable 
suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the 
crisping pins, the glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, 
and the veils." Isaiah iii. 18-23. 

SOLINUS. 

Primos hominum Seres cognoscimus, qui, aquarum aspergine inundatis frondi- 
bus, vellera arborum adminiculo depectunt liquoris, et lanuginis teneram subtilita- 
tem humore domant ad obsequium. Hoc illud est sericum, in quo ostentare po- 
tius corpora quam vestire, primo feminis, nunc etiam viris persuasit luxuiise 
libido. Cap. 1. 

The Seres first, having inundated the foliage with aspersions of water, combed 
down fleeces from trees by the aid of a fluid, and subdued to their purposes the 
tender and subtile down by the use of moisture. The substance so prepared is 
silk ; that material in which at first women, but now even men, have been per- 
suaded by the eagerness of luxury rather to display their bodies, than to clothe 
them. 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 39 



AMMIANUS MARCELLINUS. 



This historian describes the Seres as " a quiet and inoffen- 
sive people who, avoiding all quarrels with their neighbors, are 
exempt from the distresses and alarms of war, and not being 
under the necessity of using offensive arms, do not even know 
their use, and occupy a fertile country under a delicious and 
healthy climate. He represents them as passing their happy 
life in the most perfect tranquillity and the most delicious re- 
pose amidst shady thiekets refreshed by pleasant zephyrs, and 
where the soil furnishes so soft a wool, that after having been 
sprinkled with water and combed, it forms cloths resembling 
silk." 

Marcellinus proceeds to describe the Seres as being content 
with their own felicitous condition, and so reserved in their in- 
tercourse with the rest of mankind, that when foreigners ven- 
ture within their boundaries for wrought and unwrought silk, 
and other valuable articles, they consider the price offered in 
silence, and transact their business without exchanging a word ; 
a mode of traffic which is still practised in some eastern coun- 
tries. 

Macpherson, in the Annals of Commerce, a very valuable 
work, thinks that according to all appearances, the Seres were 
themselves the authors of this story, in order to make stran- 
gers believe that their country enj oyed all these benefits by the 
peculiar blessing of heaven, and that no other nation could 
participate in them. 

The remarks of Solinus and Ammianus conspire to show, 
how much more common silk had become about the end of 
the third century, being then worn, at least with a warp of 
cheaper materials, by men as well as by women, and not 
being confined to the noble and the wealthy. These authors 
likewise dilate upon the use of showers of water to detach silk 
from the trees on which it was found. According to Pliny and 
Solinus, water was also employed after the silk was gathered 
from the trees* : and probably the fact was so. Silk, as it 

* " The remaining shores are occupied by savage nations, as the Melanchlreni 



40 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE, ETC. 

comes from the worm, contains a strong gum, which would be 
dissolved by the showers of water dashed against the trees, 
and thus the cocoons, being loosened from the leaves and twigs, 
would be easily collected. In the subsequent processes, water 
would be further useful in enabling the women to spin the silk 
or to wind it upon bobbins. 

It may be observed that in this use of water art only follows 
nature. When the moth is ready to leave its cell, it always 
softens the extremity of it by emitting a drop of fluid, and thus 
easily obtains for itself a passage. In the third volume of the 
Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society (p. 543.), Colonel 
Sykes gives the following account of the process by which the 
moth of the Kolisurra silk-worm liberates itself from confine- 
ment. " It discharges from its mouth a liquor, which dissolves 
or loosens that part of the cocoon adjoining to the cord which 
attaches it to the branch, causing a hole, and admitting of the 
passage of the moth. The solvent property of this liquid is 
very remarkable ; for that part of the cocoon, against which it 
is directed, although previously as hard as a piece of wood, be- 
comes soft and pervious as wetted brown paper." 

In the seventh volume of the Linneean Transactions, is an 
account by Dr. Roxburgh of the Tusseh silk-worm. Both 
species are natives of Bengal. The cocoons require to be im- 
mersed in cold water before the silk can be obtained from them. 
In the latter species it is too delicate to be wound from the co- 
coons, and is therefore spun like cotton. Thus manufactured 
it is so durable, that the life of one person is seldom sufficient 
to wear out a garment made of it, and the same piece descends 
from mother to daughter. (See Chap. VIII. of this Part.) 



and Coraxi, Dioscurias, a City of the Colchians, near the river Anthemus, being 
now deserted, although formerly so illustrious, that Timosthenes has recorded 
that three hundred nations used to resort to it speaking different languages ; 
and that business was afterwards transacted on our part through the medium of 
one hundred and thirty interpreters." 



CHAPTER III. 



HISTORY OF THE SILK MANUFACTURE FROM THE 
THIRD TO THE SIXTH CENTURY. 



SPINNING, DYEING, AND WEAVING. HIGH DEGREE OF EXCELLENCE 

ATTAINED IN THESE ARTS. 

Fourth century — Curious account of silk found in the Edict of Diocletian — Extrav- 
agance of the Consul Furius Placidus — Transparent silk shifts — Ausonius de- 
scribes silk as the produce of trees — Quintus Aur Symmachus, and Claudian's tes- 
timony of silk and golden textures — ■Their extraordinary beauty — Pisander's de- 
scription — Periplus Maris Erythrsei — Dido of Sidon. Mention of silk hi the 
laws of Manu — Rufus Festus Avinus — Silk shawls — Marciannus Capella — In- 
scription by M. N. Proculus, silk manufacturer — Extraordinary spiders' webs — 
Bombyces compared to spiders — Wild silk-worms of Tsouen — Kien and Tiao- 
Kien — M. Bertin's account — Further remarks on wild silk-worms. Chris- 
tian authors of the fourth century — Arnobius — Gregorius Nazienzenus — Basil — 
Illustration of the doctrine of the resurrection — Ambrose — Georgius Pisida — 
Macarius — Jerome — Chrysostom — Heliodorus — Salmasius — Extraordinary 
beauty of the silk and golden textures described by these authors — Their invec- 
tives against Christians wearing silk. Mention of silk by Christian authors in 
the fifth century — Prudentius — Palladius — Theodosian Code — Appolinaris Si- 
donius — Alcimus Avitus. Sixth century — Boethius. (Manufactures of Tyre 
and Sidon — Purple — Its great durability — Incredible value of purple stufls 
found in the treasury of the King of Persia.) 

FOURTH CENTUEY. 

Some curious evidence respecting the use of silk, both un- 
mixed with linen and with the warp of linen, or some inferior 
material, is found in the Edict op Diocletian, which was 
published A. D. 303 for the purpose of fixing a maximum of 
prices for all articles in common use throughout the Roman 
Empire*. The passage pertaining to our present subject, is as 
follows : 

* It was edited A. D. 1826, by Colonel Leake, as a sequel to his Journal of a 
Tour in Asia Minor, and is also published in Tr. of the Royal Society of Litera- 
ture, vol. i. p. 181. 



42 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP 

Sarcinatori in veste soubtili replicat(u)raB . . * sex 

Eidem aperturoe cum subsutura olosericas . . * quinquaginta 

Eidem apertures cum subsutura su(b)serica3 . . * triginta 

(Sub)suturae in veste grossiori * quattuor. 

Denarii*. 

To the Tailor for lining a fine vest 6 

To the same for an opening and an edging with silk 50 

To the same for an opening and an edging with stuff made of a mixed tis- 
sue of silk and flax .......... 30 

For an edging on a coarser vest ......... 4 

Colonel Leake's translation. 

This document proves, in exact conformity with the passages 
quoted from Solinus and Ammianus, that silk had come into 
general use at the commencement of the fourth century. It is 
also manifest from this extract, that silk was employed in giv- 
ing to garments a greater proportion of intricacy and ornament 
than had been in use before. 

The authors who make mention of silk in the fourth and fol- 
lowing centuries are very numerous. We shall first take the 
heathen authors, and then the Christian writers, whose observa- 
tions often have some moral application, which gives them an 
additional interest. 

The unknown author of the Panegyric on the emperor Con- 
stantine, pronounced A. D. 317, thus mentions silk as charac- 
terizing oriental refinement. 

Facile est vincere timidos et imbelles, quales amoena Grascia et deliciae Orientis 
educunt, vix leve pallium et sericos sinus vitando sole tolerantes. 

It is easy to vanquish the timid and those unused to war, the offspring of pleas- 
sant Greece and the delightful East, who, whilst they avoid the heat of the sun, 
can scarcely bear even a light shawl and folds of silk. 

The testimony of the Roman historian Flavius Yopiscus, 
in reference to the practice of the emperor Aurelian and the 
dearness of silk during his reign, has already been produced. 
This author, in his life of the same emperor, makes the follow- 
ing remarks on a display of silk which he had himself recently 
witnessed. 



* A Roman coin of the value of about sixteen or seventeen cents, called De- 
narii from the letter X upon it ; which denoted ten. 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 



43 



We have lately seen the Consulate of Furius Placidus celebrated in the Circus 
with so great eagerness for popularity, that he seemed to give not prizes, but pa- 
trimonies, presenting tunics of linen and silk, borders of linen, and even horses, 
to the great scandal of all good men. 

The exact period here referred to is no doubt the Consulship 
of Placidus and Romulus, A. D. 343. 

In the Epistles of Alciphron (i. 39.) Myrrhine, a courtesan, 
loosens her girdle, which probably fastened her upper garment 
or shawl. Her shift was silk, and so transparent as to show 
the color of her skin. 

AUSONIUS 

satirizes a rich man of mean extraction, who nevertheless 
made lofty pretensions to nobility of birth, pretending to be de- 
scended from Mars, Romulus, and Remus, and who therefore 
caused their images to be embossed upon his plate and woven 
in a silken shawl. — Epig. 26. 

In the following line, he alludes to the production of silk in 
the usual terms : 

Vellera depectit nemoralia vestifluus Ser. 

Idyll. 12. 

The Ser remote, in flowing garments drest, 
Combs down the fleeces, which the trees invest. 

QUINTUS AUR SYMMACHUS. 

This distinguished officer, in a letter to the Consul Stilicho, 
apologizes in the following terms for his delay in sending a con- 
tribution of Holoseric pieces, that is, webs wholly made of silk, 
to the public exhibitions. 

Others have deferred supplying the water for the theatre and the Holoseric 
pieces, so that I have examples in my favor. — Epist. I. iv. 8. 

In a letter to Magnillus (I. v. 20.) he speaks of Subseric 
pieces, webs made only in part of silk, as presents ; 

At your instigation the Subseric pieces have been supplied, which my men 
kept back after the price had been settled ; and likewise everything else pertain- 
ing to the prizes which were to be given. 

CLAUDIAN 

mentions silk in numerous passages. This poet, in describing 



44 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP 

the consular robes of the two brothers Probinus and Olybrius 
(A. D. 395.), represents the Gabine Cincture, by which the toga 
was girt over the breast, as made of silk. 

In the following passage he represents the two brothers, 
Honorius and Arcadius, as dividing the empire of the world be- 
tween them and receiving tributes of its productions from the 
most distant regions : 

Vestri juris erit, quicquid complectitur axis. 
Vobis rubra dabunt pretiosas asquora conchas, 
Indus ebur, ramos Panchaia, vellera Seres. 

Be III. Cons. Honorii, I. 209-211. 
To you the world its various wealth shall send : 
Their precious shells the Erythrean seas ; 
India its iv'ry, Araby its boughs, 
The distant Seres fleeces from the trees. 

In a poem, which immediately succeeds this in the order of 
time, Claudian describes a magnificent toga, worn by Honorius 
on being appointed a fourth time consul, by saying, that it re- 
ceived its color (the Tyriau 'purple) from the Phoenicians ; its 
woof (of silk forming stripes or figures) from the Seres ; and 
its weight {produced by Indian gems) from the river Hydas- 
pes*. Again, in his poem on the approaching marriage of 
Honorius and Maria, he mentions yellow silk curtains (1. 211.) 
as a decoration of the nuptial chamber. 

Again he says (in Eutrop. I. i. v. 225, 226. 304. I. ii. v. 
337.) : 

Te grandibus India gcmmis, 
Te foliis Arabes ditent, te vellere Seres. 
Let India with her gems thy wealth increase, 
The Arabs with their leaves, the Seres with their fleece. 

He also mentions with delight the use of gold in dress, as 
well as of silk. The following passage represents the manner 
in which Proba, a Roman matron, near the end of the fourth 
century, expressed her affectionate congratulations on the ele- 
vation of her two sons to the Consulship, by preparing robes in- 
terwoven with gold for the ceremony of their installation. 

* De IV. Cons. Honorii, i. 600, 601. 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 45 

With joy elated at this proud success, 

Their venerable mother now prepares 

The golden trabeas, and the cinctures bright 

With Seric fibres shorn from woolly trees : 

Her well-train'd thumb protracts the length'ning gold, 

And makes the metal to the threads adhere. 

In Probini et Olybrii Consulatum, I. 177-182. 

From these verses we learn that Proba had herself acquired 
the art of covering the thread with gold, and that she then 
used her gold thread in the woof to form the stripes or other 
ornaments of the consular trabese. These are afterwards call- 
ed "stiff togas" (togce rigentes, I. 205.), on account of the 
rigidity imparted to them by the gold thread. 

The same poet gives an elaborate description of a Trabea 
which he supposes to have been woven by the Goddess Rome 
with the aid of Minerva for the use of the Consul Stilicho. 
Five different scenes are said to have been woven in this admi- 
rable robe (regentia dona, graves aaro trabeas), and certain 
parts of them were wrought in gold*. 

Again, Claudian supposes Thetis to have woven scarfs of gold 
and purple for her son Achilles : 

Ipsa manu chlamydes ostro texebat et auro. (Ep. 35.) 

The epigram in which this line occurs, seems to imply that 
Serena, mother-in-law of the Emperor Honorius, wove garments 
of the same kind for him. 

Maria, the daughter of the above-mentioned Stilicho, was 
bestowed by him upon Honorius, but died shortly after, about 
A. D. 400. In February, 1544, the marble coffin, containing 
her remains, was discovered at Rome. In it were preserved a 
garment and a pall, which, on being burnt, yielded 36 pounds 
of gold. There were also found a great number of glass ves- 
sels, jewels, and ornaments of all kinds, which Stilicho had 
given as a dowry to his daughter!". We may conclude, that 
the garments discovered in the tomb of Maria were woven by 
the hands of her mother Serena, since the epigram of Claudian 



* In I. Cons. Stilichonis, L. ii. 330-359. 

t Surii Comment. Rerum Gest. ab anno 1500, &c. 



46 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP 

proves that she wove robes of a similar description for Hono- 
rius, and probably on the same occasion. Anastasius Biblio- 
thecarius says, that when Pope Paschal was intent on finding 
the body of St. Caecilia, having performed mass with a view 
to obtain the favor of a revelation on the subject, he was di- 
rected A. D. 821 to a cemetery on the Appian Way near Rome, 
and there found the body enveloped in cloth of gold*. Although 
there is no reason to believe, that the body found by Paschal 
was the body of the saint pretended, yet it may have been the 
body of a Roman lady who had lived some centuries before, 
and probably about the time of Honorius and Maria. 

Pisander, who belonged to the same period (900 B. C.) with 
Homer, speaks of the Lydians as wearing tunics adorned 
with gold. Lydus observes, that the Lydians were supplied 
with gold from the sands of the Pactolus and the Hermusf. 

Virgil also represents the use of gold in weaving, as if it had 
existed in Trojan times. One of the garments so adorned 
was manufactured by Dido, the iSidonian, one by Androm- 
ache, and another was in the possession of Anchisest. In 
all these instances the reference is to the habits of Phoenice, 
Lycia, or other parts of Asia. 

He describes an ape ludicrously attired in a silk jacket ; and, 
inveighing against the progress of luxury, he speaks of some 
to whom even silk garments were a burthen. In elaborate 
descriptions of the figured consular robes (the Trabeee) of Ho- 
norius and Stilicho, he mentions the reins and other trap- 
pings of horses, as being wrought in silk§. 

The frequent allusions to silk in the complimentary poems 
of Claudian, receive illustration from various imperial laws, 
which were promulgated in the same century, and in part by 
the very emperors to whom his flattery is addressed, and which 



* " Aureis vestitnm indumentis." De Vitis Rom. Pontificum Mogunt. 1602, 
p. 222. 

t De Magistratibus Rom. L. iii. § 64. 

X JEn, iii. 483. ; iv. 264. ; viii. 167. ; xi. 75. 

§ Rubra Serica, De VI. Cons. Honor. I. 577. Serica Fraena. In I. Cons. Stili- 
chonis 1. ii. V. 350. 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 47 

are preserved in the Code of Justinian. Their object was 
not to encourage the silk manufacture, but, on a principle very 
opposite to that of modern times, to make it an imperial mo- 
nopoly. The admiration excited by the splendor and elegance 
of silk attire was the ground, on which it was forbidden that 
any individual of the male sex should wear even a silken bor- 
der upon his tunic or pallium, with the exception of the em- 
peror, his officers and servants. To confine the enjoyment of 
these luxuries more entirely to the imperial family and court, 
all private persons were strictly forbidden engaging in the 
manufacture, gold and silken borders were to be made only in 
the imperial Gynaecea*. 

THE PERIPLUS MARIS ERYTHRjEI. 

In this important document on ancient geography and com- 
merce, we find repeated mention of silk in its raw state, in that 
of thread, and wovenf. These articles were conveyed down 
the Indus to the coast of the Erythrean Sea. They were also 
brought to the great mart of Barygaza, which was on the 
Gulf of Cambay near the modern Surat, and to the coast of 
Lymirica, which was still more remote. The author of the 
Periplus states, that they were carried by land through Bactria 
to Barygaza from a great city called Thina, lying far towards 
the North in the interior of Asia. He of course refers to some 
part of Serica. It is remarkable, that he makes no mention 
of silk as the native production of India. 

Silk is mentioned in two passages of the laws of Manu, viz. 
XL v; 168, and XII. v. 64. It is, however, observed by Heer- 
en, who quotes passages of the Ramayana that make mention 
of silk, that garments of this material are there represented as 
worn only on festive occasions, and that they were undoubt- 
edly Seric or Chinese productions!:. Indeed it appears that 



* See the Corpus Juris Civilis, Lugduni 1627, folio, torn. v. Codex Justiniani, 
1. x. tit. vii. p. 131. 134. 

t Arriani Opp., vol. ii. Blancardi, pp. 164, 170. 173. 177. 

X Ideen iiber die Politik, &c. der alten Welt, i. 2. pp. 647. 648. 665-668. 677. 
3rd edition. Gottingen, 1815. 



48 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF 

the cloth made from the thread of the native worms of Hin- 
dostan, although highly valued for strength and durability, is 
not remarkable for fineness, beauty, or splendor. 

RUFUS FESTUS AVIENUS. 

This author, adopting the common notion of his time, sup- 
poses the Seres to spin thread from fleeces which were produced 
upon the trees. He also mentions silk shawls (Serica pallia, 
I. 1008.) as worn by the female Bacchantes of Ionia in their 
processions in honor of Bacchus ; and it is worthy of remark, 
that they are not mentioned in the original passage of Dionys- 
ius, the author whom Avienus translates, so that we may 
reasonably infer, that the use of them on these occasions was 
introduced between the time of Dionysius (about 30 B. C.) and 
that of Avienus (A. D. 400). 

MARTIANUS CAPELLA. 

Beyond these (the Anthropophagi) are the Seres, who asperse their trees with 
water to obtain the down, which produces silk. L. vi. p. 223. ed. Grotii, 1599. 

The following Inscription is given in Gruter, Tom. iii. p. 
dcxlv. It was found at Tivoli, and expresses that M. N. 
Proculus, silk-manufacturer, erected a monument to Valeria 
Chrysis, his excellent and deserving wife. 

D. M. 

VALERIAE. CHRYSIDI. 

M. NVMIVS. PROCVLVS. 

SERICARIVS. 

CONJVGI. SVAE. 

OPTIMiE. BENEM. 

FECIT. 

Before proceeding to the Christian writers of the 4th and fol- 
lowing centuries we may now introduce the remarks of Servius 
on the passage formerly quoted from Yirgil. He is supposed to 
have written about A. D. 400. 

Among the Indians and Seres there are on the trees certain worms, called 
Bombyces, which draw out very fine threads after the manner of spiders ; and 
these threads constitute silk. 



SLIK BY THE ANCIENTS. 49 

It will be seen hereafter, that these " Indian Seres" were the 
inhabitants of Khotan in Little Bucharia. 

The frequent comparison of Bombyces to spiders by the an- 
cients suggests the inquiry whether they employed the thread 
of any kind of spider to make cloth, as was attempted in 
France by M. Bon. The failure of his attempt is sufficient, 
as it appears, to show, that the extensive manufacture of gar- 
ments from this material must have been scarcely possible in 
ancient times. It is also to be observed, that the ancients, 
when they compare the silk-worm to the spider, refer to the 
spider's iveb, whereas M. Bon, not finding the web strong 
enough, made his cloth from the thread with which the spider 
envelopes its eggs*. 

But, although we have no reason to believe, that the web of 
any spider was anciently employed to make cloth, yet these 
accounts may have referred to worms, possibly varieties of the 
silk-worm, which spun long threads floating in the air. The 



* The most extraordinary account of a spider's web, which we have ever seen, 
is that given by Lieutenant W. Smyth. He says, " We saw here (viz. at Pachi- 
za, on the river Huayabamba in Peru) a gigantic spider's web suspended to the 
trees: it was about 25 feet in height, and near 50 in length; the threads were 
very strong, and it had the empty sloughs of thousands of insects hanging on it. 
It appeared to be the habitation of a great number of spiders of a larger size than 
we ever saw in England." Narrative of a Journey from Lima to Para, London, 
1836, p. 141. 

For some interesting notices of the great spider of Brazil the reader is referred 
to Caldeleugh's Travels in South America, London 1825, vol i. ch. 2. p. 41 ; and 
to the Rev. R. Walsh's Notices of Brazil, London 1830, vol. ii. p. 300, 301. Mr. 
Caldcleugh " assisted in liberating from a spider's net a bird of the size of a 
swallow, quite exhausted with struggling, and ready to fall a prey to its inde- 
fatigable enemies." Mr. Walsh had his light straw hat removed from his head 
by a similar web extending from tree to tree in an opening through which he had 
occasion to pass. He wound upon a card several of the threads composing the 
web ; and he observes, that, as these spiders are gregarious, the difficulties expe- 
rienced by M. Bon from the ferocity of the solitary European -spiders in killing 
and devouring one another, would not exist if the attempt were made to obtain 
clothing from the former. 

i In the forests of Java Sir George Staunton " found webs of spiders, woven 
with threads of so strong a texture as not easily to be divided without a cutting 
instrument." — Account of Lord Macartney's Embassy to China, London 1797, 
vol. i. ch. 7. p. 302. (See Chap. IX.) 
7 



50 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF 

common silk-worm spins and suspends itself by its thread, long 
before it begins its cocoon. It appears probable, therefore, that 
there may have been wild varieties of this creature, or perhaps 
other species of the same genus, which in the earlier stages of 
their existence spun threads long enough for use. We ground 
this conjecture partly on the following passage from Du Halde's 
History of China*. 

" The province of Chan-tong produces a particular sort of silk, which is found 
in great quantities on the trees and in the fields. It is spun and made into a stuff 
called Kien-tcheou. This silk is made by little insects that are much like cater- 
pillars. They do not spin an oval or round cocoon, like the silk -worms, but very 
long threads. These threads, as they are driven about by the winds, hang upon 
the trees and bushes, and are gathered to make a sort of silk, which is coarser 
than that made of the silk spun in houses. But these worms are wild, and eat 
indifferently the leaves of mulberry and other trees. Those who do not under- 
stand this silk would take it for unbleached cloth, or a coarse sort of drugget. 

" The worms, which spin this silk, are of two kinds : the first, much larger and 
blacker than the common silk-worms, are called Tsouen-kien ; the second, being 
smaller, are named Tiao-hien. The silk of the former is of a reddish gray, that 
of the latter darker. The stuff made of these materials is between both colors, it 
is very close, does not fret, is very lasting, washes like linen, and, when it is good, 
receives no damage by spots, even though oil were to be shed on it. 
fs " This stuff is much valued by the Chinese, and it is sometimes as dear as 
satin or the finest silks. As the Chinese are very skilful at counterfeiting, they 
make a false sort of Kien-tcheou with the waste of the Tche-kiang silk, which 
without due inspection might easily be taken for the genuine article." 

This account affords a remarkable illustration of many of 
the expressions of the ancient writers, such as " Bombyx pen- 
dulus urget opus," Martial ; "Per aerem liquando aranearum 
horoscopis idoneas sedes tendit," Tertullian ; " In aranearum 
morem tenuissima fila deducunt," Servius. 

In farther illustration of the subject, and as tending to show 
that the Kien-tcheou is manufactured from the thread of a 
silk- worm, modified in its habits and perhaps in its organization 
by circumstances, we shall now quote a few passages from a work 
having the following title : " China ; its costume, arts, man- 
ufactures, $*c, edited from the originals in the cabinet of 
M. Berlin, with observations by M. Breton. Translated 
from the French. London, 1812." Vol. iv. p. 55, $*c. 

* Vol. ii. p. 359, 360, 8vo. edition, London, 1736. 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 



51 



" The wild silk-worms are found in the hottest provinces of China, especially 
near Canton. They live indifferently on all sorts of leaves, particularly on those 
of the ash, the oak, and the fagara, and spin a greyish and rarely white silk. 
The coarse cloth manufactured from it is called Kien-tcheou, will bear washing, 
and on that account persons of quality do not disdain to wear clothes of it. With 
this silk also the strings of musical instruments are made, because it is stronger 
and more sonorous. 

" Entomologists treat but very superficially of the habits of the wild silk- 
worms, while they dwell in minute detail on the method of rearing them in Pro- 



vence. 



" It is between the nineteenth and twenty-second day of their existence, that 
they undertake the great work of spinning their cocoon. They curve, a leaf 
into a kind of cup, and then form a cocoon as large and nearly as hard as. a hen's 
egg ! This cocoon has one end open like a reversed funnel ; it is a passage for 
the butterfly, which is to come out. 

" The oak-worms are slower in making their cocoon than those of the fagara 
and ash, and they set about it differently. Instead of bending a single leaf, they 
roll themselves in two or three and spin their cocoon. It is larger, but the silk is 
inferior in quality, and of course not so valuable. 

" The cocoons of wild silk-worms are so strong and compact, that the insects 
encounter great difficulty in extricating themselves, and therefore remain inclosed 
from the end of the summer, to the spring of the following year. These butter- 
flies, unlike the domestic insect, fly very well.— The domestic silk-worm is but a 
variety of the wild species. It is fed on the leaves of the mulberry tree." (Seo 
chap. VIII.) 

The circumstance that the worms were sometimes fed with 
oak-leaves is mentioned in Du Halde's History of China, 
vol. ii. p. 363. 

Here then we have a justification of the ancients in asserting, 
both that the silk- worms produced long- threads and webs float- 
ing in the air like those of spiders, and that they fed upon 
the leaves of the oak, the ash, and many other trees. It may 
be recollected, that Pliny expressly mentions both the oak 
(quercus) and the ash (fraxinus). 

Until very lately the use of silk among the ancients was in- 
vestigated only by philologists. Within a few years M. Latreille, 
an entomologist of the highest distinction, has directed his at- 
tention to the subject and has examined particularly the above- 
cited passages of Aristotle, Pliny, and Pausanias*. He never 

* M. Latreille's paper is published in the Annates des Sciences Naturelles, tome 
xxiii. pp. 58-84. 



52 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF 

supposes the ancient Sericum to have been the produce of any- 
thing except the silk-worm. But of this there are several va- 
rieties, partly perhaps natural, and partly the result of domes- 
tication. He endeavors to explain some parts of Pliny's descrip- 
tion by showing their seeming correspondence with some of the 
practices actually observed by the Orientals in the management 
of silk-worms. 

An account of the wild silk-worms of China is to be found 
in the " Memoires concernant l'Histoire, les Sciences, les Arts, 
&c, des Chinois," compiled by the missionaries of Peking*. 
This account is principally derived from the information of Fa- 
ther D'Incarville, one of the missionaries. It coincides gen- 
erally with the accounts already quoted from Du Halde and 
Breton. We extract the following particulars as conveying 
some further information : 

" The Chinese annals from the year 150 B. C. to A. D. 638 make frequent 
mention of the great quantity of silk produced by the wild worms, and observe 
that their cocoons were as large as eggs or apricots." 

The following passage is also deserving of attention : " Le 
papillon de ces vers sauvages, dit le Pere d'Incarville, est a ailes 
vitrees." This information, if correct, would prove that there 
was at least one kind of wild silk-worms in China, which was 
a different species from the Phalsena Mori ; for that has no 
transparent membranes in its wings, and would not be likely to 
receive them in consequence of any change in its mode of life. 

We now proceed to take the Christian authors of the fourth 
and following centuries in the order of time. 

ARNOBIUS (A. D. 306.) 

thus speaks of the heathen gods : 

They want the covering of a garment : the Tritonian virgin must spin a threat, 
of extraordinary fineness, and according to circumstances put on a tunic either of 
mail, or silkt. 

* Tome ii. pp. 579-601. Paris, 1777, 4to. This Memoir is reprinted with 
abridgments as an Appendix to Stanislaus Julien's Translation of the Chinese 
Treatise on the Breeding of Silk-worms, Paris, 1837, 8vo. 

t Adv. Gentes, 1. iii. p. 580, ed. Erasmi. 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 53 



GREGORIUS NAZIENZENUS, CL., A. D. 370. 

The following passage contains, we believe, the earliest al- 
lusion to the use of silk in the services of the Christian Church. 

"AAXoi jxlv xpvcrovre Kal apyvpov, ol Si to. E(jpc3v 

Awpa (pspovcL 0«j vfi/xara Xetrra^ea. 
Kat Xpioru Bvairjv tIs ayvr)v di/sdrjKSV eavrdv' 
K.al airzv&u Sapicioiv aAXos ayvas \t0aSa;. 
Ad Hellenium pro Monachis Carmen, torn. ii. p. 106. ed. Par. 1G30. 
Silver and gold some bring to God 
Or the fine threads by Seres spun : 
Others to Christ themselves devote, 
A chaste and holy sacrifice, 
And make libations of their tears. 

Yates's Translation. 

BASIL, CL., A. D. 370. 

Although this celebrated author was a native of Asia Minor, 
and had studied in Syria and Palestine, he appears to have 
known the silk-worm only from books and by report. His de- 
scription of it in the following passage, in which we first find 
the beautiful illustration of the doctrine of a resurrection from 
the change of the chrysalis, is chiefly copied from Aristotle's ac- 
count as formerly quoted. 

Ti (part ol dino-TovvTCs rZTlavXa irepl rrjs Kara rfjv dvao-raatv dXXo«oo-£cof, bpSvrt; iroWa 
rav dcpitnv to.; jtop(pas fieraflaWovTa ; oirota Kal irepl too 'IvSikov o-kcoXjjkoj lo-ropurai rov 
Kspatripopov os eis KO.jj.iniv ra irpoira jierafiaXiyv, situ irpottov /?0f</?-uXidf yivtrai, Kal oiSi iiri 
TavTris 'iararai rrjs iiop<j>rjs } dWct %avvots Kal irXaTsai irerdXois vwoiTTspovTat. "Orav ovv 
KaB^rjade rnv Tovrav tpyaciav dvairrivt^ofiLtvai at yvvatKCs, to. vfijiara Xtyco, a irifinovaiv 
ijitv ol Lirjpzs irpos ty]v tcSv jj.a\aK(Sv ivivfiarcov Karao-KevfiVj jie[ivriij.i'i/ai rrjs Kara to $Sov 
tovto fi£ra/?oXi]f j evapyrj XapPavETe Trjs draoracreco; Ivvotav, Kal fit] dirtcTUTz ttj dXXayi;, 
\\v ITauXoj airaot KaTzirayytWzTat. — Hexahemeron, p. 79. A. Ed. Benedict. 

What have you to say, who disbelieve the assertion of the Apostle Paul con- 
cerning the change at the resurrection, when you see many of the inhabitants of 
the air changing their forms ? Consider, for example, the account of the horned 
worm of India, which (i. e. the silk-worm) having first changed into a caterpillar 
(eruca, or veruca), then in process of time becomes a cocoon {bombylius, or bom- 
bulio), and does not continue even in this form, but assumes light and expanded 
wings. Ye women, who sit winding upon bobbins the produce of these animals, 
namely the threads, which the Seres send to you for the manufacture of fine gar- 
ments, bear in mind the change of form in this creature ; derive from it a clear 
conception of the resurrection ; and discredit not that transformation which Paul 
announces to us all. — Yates's Translation. 



54 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF 

When St. Basil says of the new-born moth, that "it as- 
sumes light and expanded wings," the beauty of the com- 
parison in illustrating the Christian doctrine of the resurrection 
is enhanced, when we consider that in its wild state the moth 
flies very well, although, when domesticated, its flight is weak 
and its wings small and shrivelled* : but still more beautiful 
does the figure become, if we suppose a reference to those 
larger and more splendid Phaleenee which produce the coarser 
kinds of silk in India, and probably in China also. 

Basil is the first writer, who distinctly mentions the change 
of the silk-worm from a Chrysalis to a moth. In his applica- 
tion of that fact he addresses himself to his countrywomen in 
Asia Minor, and his language represents them sitting and 
winding on bobbins the raw silk obtained from the Seres and 
designed to be afterwards woven into cloth. 

Between these two authors, Aristotle and Basil, we observe 
a difference of phraseology which appears deserving of notice. 
While they both describe the women, not as spinning the 
silk, but as winding it on bobbins, they designate the ma- 
terial so wound by two different names. Basil uses the term 
vfifxara, which might be meant to imply that the silk came 
from the Seres in skeins as it comes to us from China : Aris- 
totle, on the contrary, uses the term /fy/J^ia, which can only 
refer to the state of silk before it is wound into skeins. 
As it might appear impossible to convey it in this state to 
Cos, we shall here insert from the authorities already quoted, 
the Chinese Missionaries, an account of the process by which 
the cocoons are prepared for winding, and it will then be seen, 
that the cocoons might have been transported to any part of 
the world. 

" To prepare the cocoons of the wild silk-worms, the 
Chinese cut the extremities of them with a pair of scissors. 
They are then put into a canvass bag, and immersed for an 
hour or more in a kettle of boiling lye, which dissolves the 
gum. When this is effected, they are taken from the kettle; 



* The Phalsena Atlas, apparently a native of China, measures eight inches 
across the wings from tip to tip. 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 55 

pressed to expel the lye, and then laid out to dry. Whilst 
they are still moist, the chrysalises are extracted ; each cocoon 
is then turned inside out, so as to make a sort of cowl. It is 
necessary only, to put them again into lukewarm water, 
after which ten or twelve of them are capped one upon an- 
other like so many thimbles, to insert a small distaff through 
them, when the silk may be reeled off. 

Basil, in one of his Homilies, (Opp. torn. ii. p. 53. 55. ed. 
Benedict.) inveighs against the ladies of Ceesarea, who em- 
ployed themselves in weaving gold ; and he is no less indig- 
nant at their husbands who adorned even their horses with 
cloths of gold and scarlet as if they were bridegrooms. 

The author of a Treatise " De discipline et bono pudicitise," 
which is usually published with Cyprian, and which may be 
referred to the fourth or fifth century, thus speaks (Cypriani 
Opera, ed. Erasmi, p. 499.) : 

To weave gold in cloth is, as it were, to adopt an expensive method of spoiling 
it. Why do they interpose stiff metals between the delicate threads of the warp? 

The same censure is implied in the following address of Al- 
cimus Avitus to his sister. 

Non tibi gemmato posuere nonilia collo, 
Nee te contexit, neto qua? fulguratauro 
Vestis, ductilibus concludens fila talentis : 
Nee te Sidonium bis coeti muricis ostrum 
Induit, aut rutilo perlucens purpura succo, 
Mollia vel tactu quas mittunt vellera Seres : 
Nee tibi transfossis fixerunt auribus aurum. 

No threaded gems have pressed thy sparkling neck : 
No cloth, with lines incased in ductile gold, 
Or twice with the Sidonian murex dyed, 
Has glittered on thee : thou hast never worn 
The fleeces soft which distant Seres send : 
Nor are thy ears transfixed for pendent gold. 

The effect of such exhortations as the preceding, was to in- 
duce piously disposed persons to apply pieces of gold cloth to 
public and sacred, instead of private purposes. After this 
period we find continual instances of their use in the decoration 
of churches and in the robes of the priesthood. 



56 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF 



AMBROSE, CL. A. D. 374. 

Series vestes, et auro intexta velamina, quibus divitis corpus ambitur, damna 
viventium, non subsidia defuuetorum sunt. — De Nabutho Jezraelitd, cap. i. torn- 
i. p. 566. Ed. Bened. 

Silken garments, and veils interwoven with gold, with which the body of the 
rich man is encompassed, are a loss to the living, and no gain to the dead. 

Here we think it not out of place to introduce the account of 
the silk-worm by Georgius Pisida, who flourished about A. D. 
640, although he lived at Constantinople after the breeding 
of silk-worms had been introduced there. According to him 
the silk-worm pines or moulders almost to nothing in its tomb} 
and then returns to its former shape. The verses are however 
deserving of attention for their elegance, and for the repetition 
of Basil's idea, which Ambrose has left out, of the analogy be- 
tween the restoration of the silk-worm and the resurrection of 
man. 

JloTos SI Kal GKuiXriKa TirjpiKdv vojaos 
TleWei to. Xa/i77f)d/cAcooTa vfijiara ir\eK£iv } 
'A, rrj fia<prj xpwadzra TrjS a\ovpyiSos, 
~X.avvoT tov oyKOv tuv KparoivTOiv ijitppovui^ 
'M-vfi/iri yap avTOv; ev\a/3tos VTroTp£%ci s 
"On irpo avrojv riys arpXrjs >; XajinpoTUji 
SvaiAi7*cof rjv ivSvjia Kal (pdaprfi aKCwrij 
"Of, rfj Kad ^aj ftaprvpcov aVaoraasi, 

Bl>flGK£l jjliv IvSoV TUV ZOLVTOV VVjUaTOlV, 

Tov (Xvtov oIkov Kal Tac[>nv SeSeyjiivoi } 
Sj^eJov SI ttclvtos tov kut' avrov aapKiov 
Havhros 5) pvsvros 5) T£Trjyjt.evov, 

J\.p0V0V KaXoVVTOS C.K (p8opaS &TT0GTp-£<p£l } 

JJLal tvv irdXai n6p<ptA>mv dppfiTcos (pvsi 
'Ev ru TTEpiTTSvaavTi fniKpSi Xeiipavco, 
TIpas rr]v air' dpyrjs awptXToiixevos nXdiTiv. 

I. 1265-1282. 
What law persuades the Seric worm to spin 
Those shining threads, which, dyed with purple hue, 
Inflate, yet check the pride of mighty men ? 
For, whilst they blaze in grand attire, the thought 
Steals on, — This splendid robe once cloth'd a worm : 
Type of our resurrection from the grave, 
It dies within the tomb itself has spun, 
That perishing abode, which is at once 
Its house and tomb ; in which it rots away, 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 57 

Till at the call of time it gladly leaves 
Corruption, and its ancient shape resumes. 
A little remnant of its mould'ring flesh, 
By processes unspeakable and dark, 
Restores the wonders of its earliest form. 

Yates's Translation 

MACARIUS, CL., A. D. 373. 

This author gives us an additional proof (Homil. 17, § 9,) that 
the use of silken clothing was characteristic of dissolute women, 

JEROME, CL., A. D. 378. 

This great author mentions silk in numerous passages. 

In his translation of EzekiePxxvii. he has supposed silk 
(sericum) to be an article of Syrian and Phoenician traffic as 
early as the time of that prophet. • 

In his beautiful and interesting Epistle to Lseta on the Edu- 
cation of her Daughter (Opp. Paris, 1546, torn. i. p. 20. C), 
he says : 

Let her learn also to spin wool, to hold the distaff, to place the basket in her 
bosom, to twirl the spindle, to draw the threads with her thumb. Let her despise 
the webs of silk-worms, the fleeces of the Seres, and gold beaten into threads. 
Let her prepare such garments as may dispel cold, not expose the body naked, 
even when it is clothed. Instead of gems and silk, let her love the sacred 
books, &c. 

Because we do not use garments of silk, we are reckoned monks ; because we 
are not drunken, and do not convulse ourselves with laughter, we are called re- 
strained and sad : if our tunic is not white, we immediately hear the proverb, He 
is an impostor and a Greek. — Epist. ad Marcellum, De Mgrotatione Blesillce, 
torn. i. p. 156, ed. Erasmi, 1526. 

You formerly went with naked feet ; now you not only use shoes, but even 
ornamented ones. You then wore a poor tunic and a black shirt under it, dirty 
and pale, and having your hand callous with labor ; now you go adorned with 
linen and silk, and with vestments obtained from the Atrebates and from Laodi- 
cea . — Adv. Jovinianum, I. ii Opp. ed. Paris, 1546, torn. ii. p. 29. 

In the following he further condemns the practice of wrap- 
ping the bodies of the dead in cloth of gold : 

Why do you wrap your dead in garments of gold? Why does not ambition 
cease amidst wailings and tears ? Cannot the bodies of the rich go to corruption 
except in silk ? Epist. L. ii. 

You cannot but be offended yourself, when you admire garments of silk and 
gold in others. — Epist. L. ii. No. 9, p. 138, ed. Par. 1613, 12mo. 



58 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP 



CHRYSOSTOM, CL., A. D. 398. 

'AXXa aripiKa ra lp.dria\ dWa paKiow yipovaa ?; ipw^fi. 

Comment, in Psalm 48. torn. v. p. 517. ed. Ben. 
Does the rich man wear silken shawls ? His soul however is full of tatters. 

KaXa ra aripina i/jar(a, dXXa ckoiXtikuv IcttXv v<paap.a. 

(Quoted by Vossius, Etym. Lat. p. 466.) 
Silken shawls are beautiful, but the production of worms. 

Chrysostom also inveighs against the practice of embroidering 
shoes with silk thread, observing that it was a shame even to 
wear it woven in shawls. Such is the change of circumstan- 
ces, that now even the poorest persons of both sexes, if decently 
attired, have silk in their shoes. 

HELIODORUS, CL., A. D. 390. 

This author, describing the ceremonies at the nuptials of 
Theagenes and Chariclea, says, " The ambassadors of the 
Seres came, bringing the thread and webs of their spiders, one 
of the webs dyed purple (!), the other white." JEthiopica, 
lib. x. p. 494. Commelini. 

Salmasius (in Tertullianum de Pallia, p. 242.) quotes the 
following passage from an uncertain author. 

'Ofioiix larlv f] roii irap6i/To; 0iov Tcp-rrvomg Iv Sinai <tkcoXj7*."[<3, Snip rw <pv\~Xix> tov StvSpov 
uvvTv\i^8lv i Kai tti rpoipri day^oXriBlv, ovvemiiyr) iv avrio tov pera^iov kovkovXigi. 

The pleasure of the present life is like the Indian worm, which, having involv- 
ed itself in the leaf of the tree and having been satisfied with food, chokes itself 
in the cocoon of its own thread. — Yates's Translation. 

This writer, whoever he was, appears to have had a correct 
idea of the manner in which the silk-worm wraps itself in a 
leaf of the tree, on which it feeds, and spins its tomb within*. 



* In the Royal Museum of Natural History at Leyden are eight or ten cocoons 
of the Phalaena Atlas from Java. They consist of a strong silk, and are formed 
upon the leaves of a kind of Ficus. The first layer of the cocoon covers the 
whole of a leaf, and receives the exact impress of its form. Then two or three 
other layers are distinctly perceptible. Two or three leaves are joined together to 
form the cocoon. In regard to the looseness of the layers these cocoons do not 
correspond to M. Breton's description of the cocoons of the wild silk-worms of 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 59 

FIFTH CENTURY. 

PRUDENTIUSj CL., A. D. 405. 

The following sentence occurs in a speech of St. Lawrence 
at his martyrdom : 

Hunc, qui superbit serico, 
Quem currus inflatum vehit ; 
Hydrops aquosus lucido 
Tendit veneno intrinsecus. 

Peristeph. Hymn. ii. Z. 237-240. 
See him, attir'd in silken pride, 
Inflated in his chariot ride ; 
The lucid poison works within, 
Dropsy distends his swollen skin. 

In another Hymn to the honor of St. Romanus we find the 
following lines : 

Aurum regestum nonne carni adquiritur? 
Inlusa vestis, gemma, bombyx, purpura, 
In carnis usum mille quseruntur dolis. 

Peristeph. Hymn. x. 
To please the flesh a thousand arts contend : 
The miser's heaps of gold, the figur'd vest, 
The gem, the silk-worm, and the purple dye, 
By toil acquir'd, promote no other end. 

In the same Hymn (1. 1015.) Prudentius describes a heathen 
priest sacrificing a bull, and dressed in a silken toga which is 
held up by the Gabine cincture (Cinctu Gabino Sericam fultus 
tog-am). Perhaps, however, we ought here to understand that 
the cincture only, not the whole toga, was of silk. It was used 
to fasten and support the toga by being drawn over the breast. 

In two other passages this poet censures the progress of lux- 
ury in dress, and especially when adopted by men. 

Sericaque in fractis fluitent ut pallia membris. 

Psychomachia, I. 365. 
The silken scarfs float o'er their weaken'd limbs. 

Sed pudet esse viros : quaerunt vanissima quseque 
Quis niteant : genuina leves ut robora solvant, 

China, which are very strong and compact, and therefore more resemble those of 
the Phalsena Paphia. 



60 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF 

Vellere non ovium, sed Eoo ex orbe petitis 
Ramorum spoliis fluitantee sumere amictus, 
Gaudent, et durum scutulis perfundere corpus. 
Additur ars, ut fila herbis saturata recoctis 
Inludant varias distincto staraine formas. 
Ut quseque est lanugo ferae mollissima tactu, 
Pectitur. Hunc videas lascivas praepete cursu 
Venantem tunicas, avium quoque versicolomm 
Indumenta novis texentem plumea telis : 
Ilium pigmentis redolentibus, et peregrino 
Pulvere femineas spargentem turpitur auras. 

Hamartigenia, I. 286-298. 

They blush to be call'd men : they seek to shine 

In ev'ry- vainest garb. Their native strength 

To soften and impair, they gaily choose 

A flowing scarf, not made of wool from sheep, 

But of those fleeces from the Eastern world, 

The spoil of trees. Their hardy frame they deck 

All o'er with tesselated spots : and art 

Is added, that the threads, twice dyed with herbs, 

May sportively intwine their various hues 

And mimic forms, within the yielding warp. 

Whatever creature wears the softest down, 

They comb its fleece. This man with headlong course 

Hunts motley tunics which inflame desire, 

Invents new looms, and weaves a feather'd vest, 

Which with the plumage of the birds compares : 

That, scented with cosmetics, basely sheds 

Effeminate foreign powder all around. 

PALLADIUS. 

A work remains under the name of Palladius on "The 
Nations of India and the Brachmans." Whether it is by the 
same Palladius, who wrote the Historia Lausiaca. is disputed. 
But, as we see no reason to doubt, that it may have been writ- 
ten as early as his time, we introduce here the passages, which 
have been found in it, relating to the present subject. The au- 
thor represents the Bramins as saying to Alexander the Great, 
" You envelope yourselves in soft clothing, like the silk-worms." 
{p. 17. ed. Bisscei.) It is also asserted, that Alexander did not 
pass the Ganges, but went " as far as Serica, where the silk- 
worms produce raw-silk" (p. 2.). 

In the London edition this tract is followed by one in Latin, 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 61 

bearing the name of St. Ambrose and entitled De moribtjs 
Brachmanorum. It contains nearly the same matter with 
the preceding-. The writer professes to have obtained his in- 
formation from " Musseus Doienorum Episcopus," meaning - , as 
it appears from the Greek tract, Moses, Bishop of Adule, of 
whom he says, 

Sericam fere universam regionem peragravit : in qnS. refert arbores esse, qua) 
non solum folia, sed lanam quoque proferunt tenuissimam, ex qua vestimenta con 
ficiuntur, quae Serica nuncupantur. p. 58. 

He travelled through nearly all the country of the Seres, in which, he says, 
that there are trees producing not only leaves, but the finest wool, from which 
are made the garments called Serica. 

These notices are not devoid of value as indicating what 
were the first steps to intercourse with the original silk countoy. 
It may however be doubted, whether the last account here 
quoted is a modification of the ideas previously current among 
the Greeks and Romans, or whether it arose from the mistakes 
of Moses himself, or of other Christian travellers into the in- 
terior of Asia, who confounded the production of silk with 
that of cotton. 

THE THEODOSIAN CODE, 

published A. D. 438, mentions silk (sericam et metaxam) in 
various passages. 

APOLLINARIS SIDONIUS, CL., A. D. 472. 

Describing the products of different countries, this learned au- 
thor says {Carmen, v. I. 42-50), 

Fert 
Assyrius gemmas, Ser vellera, thura Sabseus. 
Th' Assyrian brings his gems, the Ser 
His fleeces, the Sabean frankincense. 

In a passage [Carmen, xv.), he mentions a pall, 

Cujus bis coctus aheno 
Serica Sidonius fucabat stamina murex. 
The Tyrian murex, twice i' th' cauldron boil'd, 
Had dyed its silken threads. 

The expression here used, indicates that the silk thread was 



62 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP 

brought from the country of the Seres to be dyed in Phoenice, 
In Horace we have already noticed the " Coee purpurae." 

A passage from the Burgus Pontii Leontii (Carmen, xxii.), 
shows that the same article (Serica fild) was imported into 
Gaul. 

In the same author (I. ii. Eirist. ad ISerranum) we meet 
with " Sericatum toreuma." The latter word probably denoted 
a carved sofa or couch. The epithet " sericatum" may have 
referred to its silken cover. 

The same author describes Prince Sigismer, who was about 
to be married, going in a splendid procession and thus clothed : 

Ipse medius incessit, fiammeus cocco, rutilus auro, lactens serico. L. iv. Epist 
p 107. ed. Elmenhorstii. 

He himself marched in the midst, his attire flaming with coccus, glittering 
with gold, and of milky whiteness with silk. 

Describing the heat of the weather, he says : 

One man perspires in cotton, another in silk. 

L. ii. Epist. 2. 

Lastly, in the following lines he alludes to the practice of 
giving silk to the successful charioteers at the Circensian 
games : 

The Emp'ror, just as powerful, ordains 

That silks with palms be given, crowns with chains : 

Thus marks high merit, and inferior praise 

In brilliant carpets to the rest conveys. 

Carmen, xxiii. L 423-427 

ALCIMUS AVITUS, CL., A. D. 490. 

Describing the rich man in the parable of Lazarus, this 
author says : 

Ipse cothurnatus gemmis et fulgidus auro 
Serica bis coctis mutabat tegmina blattis. 

L. iii. 222. 

In jewell'd buskins and a blaze of gold, 
Silk shawls, or twice in scarlet dipt, he wore. 

Avitus also mentions " the soft fleeces sent by the Seres." 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 



63 



SIXTH CENTURY. 

B0ETHIUS, CL., A. D. 510 

Nor honey into wine they pour d, nor mix'd 
Bright Seric fleeces with the Tyrian dye. 

De Consol. Philos. ii. 

The Tynans are chiefly known to us in commercial history 
for their skill in dyeing ; the Tyrian purple formed one of the 
most general and principal articles of luxury in antiquity : but 
dyeing could scarcely have existed without weaving, and 
though we have no direct information respecting the Tyrian 
and Sidonian looms, we possess several ancient references to 
their excellence, the less suspicious because they are incidental. 
Homer, for instance, when Hecuba, on the recommendation of 
the heroic Hector, resolves to make a rich offering to Minerva, 
describes her as selecting one of Sidonian manufacture as the 
finest which could be obtained. 

The Phrygian queen to her rich wardrobe went 
Where treasured odors breathed a costly scent ; 
There lay the vestures of no vulgar art — 
Sidonian maids embroider'd every part, 
Whom from soft Sidon youthful Paris bore 
With Helen, touching on the Tyrian shore. 
Here, as the queen revolved with careful eyes 
The various textures and the various dyes, 
She chose a veil that shone superior far, 
And glow'd refulgent as the morning star. 

Iliad, vi. 

Tyre appears to have been the only city of antiquity which 
made dyeing its chief occupation, and the staple of its com- 
merce. There is little doubt that purple, the sacred symbol of 
royal and sacerdotal dignity, was a color discovered in that 
city; and, that it contributed to its opulence and grandeur. 
It is related that a shepherd's dog, instigated by hunger, having 
broken a shell on the sea shore, his mouth became stained 
with a color, which excited the admiration of all who saw it, 
and that the same color was afterwards applied with great suc- 
cess to the dyeing of wool. According to some of the ancient 
writers, this discovery is placed in the reign of Phoenix, second 



64 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP 

King of Tyre (five hundred years before the Christian era) ; 
others fix it in that of Minos, who reigned 939 years earlier or, 
1439 B. C. The honor of the invention of dyeing purple, is 
however, generally awarded to the Tyrian Hercules, who pre- 
sented his discovery to the king of Phoenicia ; and the latter 
was so jealous of the beauties of this new color, that he forbade 
the use of it to all his subjects, reserving it for the garments of 
royalty alone. Some authors relate the story differently : Her- 
cules' dog having stained his mouth with a shell, which he had 
broken on the seashore, Tysus, a nymph of whom Hercules 
was enamored, was so charmed with the beauty of the color, 
that she declared she would see her lover no more until he had 
brought garments dyed of the same. Hercules, in order to 
gratify his mistress, collected a great number of the shells, and 
succeeded in staining a robe of the color she had demanded. 
" Colored dresses," says Pliny*, " were known in the time of 
Homer (900 B. C), from which the robes of triumph were bor- 
rowed." Purple habits are mentioned among the presents 
made to Gideon, by the Israelites, from the spoils of the kings 
of Midan. Ovid, in his description of the contest in weaving 
between Minerva and Araclme, dwells not only on the beauty 
of the figures which the rivals wove, but also mentions the del- 
icacy of shading by which the various colors were made tg har- 
monize together : 

Then both their mantles bntton'd to their breast, 

Their skilful fingers ply with willing haste, 

And work with pleasure, while they cheer the eye 

With glowing purple of the Tyrian dye : 

Or justly intermixing shades with light, 

Their colorings insensibly unite 

As when a shower, transpierced with sunny rays, 

Its mighty arch along the heaven displays ; 

From whence a thousand different colors rise 

Whose fine transition cheats the clearest eyes ; 

So like the intermingled shading seems 

And only differs in the last extremes. 

Their threads of gold both artfully dispose, 

And, as each part in just proportion rose, 

Some antic fable in their work disclose. — Metam. xi. 

* Plin. viii. 48. 



SILK BY THE ANCIENTS. 65 

The Tyrian purple was communicated by means of several 
species of univalve shell-fish. Pliny gives us an account of two 
kinds of shell-fish from which the purple was obtained. The 
first of these was called buccinwn, the other purpura*. A 
single drop of the liquid dye was obtained from a small vessel 
or sac, in their throats, to the amount of only one drop from 
each animal ! A certain quantity of the juice thus collected 
being heated with sea salt, was allowed to ripen for three days, 
after which it was diluted with five times its bulk of water, kept 
at a moderate heat for six days more, occasionally skimmed, 
to separate the animal membranes, and when thus clarified, 
was applied directly as a dye to white wool, previously prepared 
for this purpose, by the action of lime-water, or of a species of 
lichen called fucus. Two operations were requisite to commu- 
nicate the finest Tyrian purple ; the first consisted in plunging 
the wool into the juice of the purpura, the second into that of 
the buccinum. Fifty drachms of wool required one hundred 
of the former liquor, and two hundred of the latter. Some- 
times a preliminary tint was given with cocus, the kermes of 
the present day, and the cloth received merely a finish from 
the precious animal juice. The color appears to have been 
very durable ; for Plutarch observes in his life of Alexander!, 
that,%at the taking of Susa, the Greeks found in the royal 
treasury qf Darius a quantity of purple stuffs of the value of 
five thousand talents, which still retained its beauty, though it 
had lain there for one hundred and ninety yearst 

* Plin. Lib. vi. c. 3G. f Plutarch, chap. 36. 

t The true value of the talent cannot well be ascertained, but it is known that 
it was different among different nations. The Attic talent, the weight, contained 
60 Attic minee, or 6000 Attic drachmae, equal to 56 pounds, 11 ounces, English 
troy weight. The mina being reckoned equal to £3 4s. Id. sterling, or $14 33 
cents ; the talent was of the value of .£193 15s. sterling, about $861. Other 
computations make it £225 sterling. 

The Romans had the great talent and the little talent ; the great talent is 
computed to be equal to £99 6s. 8d. sterling, and the little talent to £75 sterling. 

2. Talent, among the Hebrews, was also a gold coin, the same with a shekel 
of gold ; called also stater, and weighing only four drachmas. But the Hebrew 
talent of silver, called dear, was equivalent to three thousand shekels, or one 
hundred and thirteen pounds, ten ounces, and a fraction, troy weight. — Arbuthnot* 

9 



CHAPTER IV. 

HISTORY OF THE SILK MANUFACTURE CONTINUED 
FROM THE INTRODUCTION OF SILK-WORMS INTO 
EUROPE, A.D. 530, TO THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 

A. D. 530. — Introduction of silk-worms into Europe — Mode by which it was 
effected — The Serinda of Procopius the same with the modern Khotan — The 
silk-worm never bred in Sir-hind — Silk shawls of Tyre and Berytus — Tyran- 
nical conduct of Justinian — Ruin of the silk manufactures — Oppressive conduct 
of Peter Barsames — Menander Protector — Surprise of Maniak the Sogdian am- 
bassador — Conduct of Chosroes, king of Persia — Union of the Chinese and Per- 
sians against the Turks — The Turks in self-defence seek an alliance with the 
Romans — Mortification of the Turkish ambassador — Reception of the Byzan- 
tine ambassador by Disabul, king of the Sogdiani — Display of silk textures — 
Paul the Silentiary's account of silk — Isidorus Hispalensis. Mention of silk by 
authors in the seventh century — Dorotheus, Archimandrite of Palestine — In- 
troduction of silk-worms into Chubdan, or Khotan — Theophylactus Simocatta 
— Silk manufactures of Turfan — Silk known in England in this century — . 
First worn by Ethelbert, king of Kent — Use of by the French kings — Aldhel- 
mus's beautiful description of the silk-worm — Simile between weaving and vir- 
tue. Silk in the eighth century — Bede. In the tenth century — Use of silk by 
the English, Welsh, and Scotch kings. Twelfth century — Theodoras Prodro- 
Hius — Figured shawls of the Seres — Ingulphus describes vestments of silk 
interwoven with eagles and flowers of gold — Great value of silk about this 
time — Silk manufactures of Sicily — Its introduction into Spain. Fourteenth 
century — Nicholas Tegrini — Extension of the Silk manfacture through Eu- 
rope, illustrated by etymology — Extraordinary beauty of silk and golden tex- 
tures used in the decoration of churches in the middle ages — Silk rarely men- 
tioned in the ninth, eleventh, or thirteenth centuries. 

We now come to the very interesting account of the first in- 
troduction of silk-worms into Europe, which is given by Pro- 
copius in the following terms. (De Bello Gothico, iv. 17.) 

"About this time (A. D. 530.) two monks, having arrived 
from India, and learnt that Justinian was desirous that his 
subjects should no longer purchase raw silk from the Persians, 
went to him and offered to contrive means, by which the Ro- 
mans would no longer be under the necessity of importing this 
article from their enemies the Persians or any other nation. 



CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 67 

They said, that they had long resided in the country called 
Serinda, one of those inhabited by the various Indian nations, 
and had accurately informed themselves how raw silk might 
be produced in the country of the Romans. In reply to the 
repeated and minute inquiries of this Emperor, they stated, 
that the raw silk is made by worms, which nature instructs 
and continually prompts to this labor ; but that to bring the 
worms alive to Byzantium would be impossible ; that the 
breeding of them is quite easy ; that each parent animal pro- 
duces numberless eggs, which long after their birth are covered 
with manure by persons who have the care of them, and being 
thus warmed a sufficient time, are hatched. The Emperor 
having promised the monks a handsome reward, if they would 
put in execution what they had proposed, they returned to In- 
dia and brought the eggs to Byzantium, where, having hatched 
them in the manner described, they fed them with the leaves 
of the Black Mulberry, and thus enabled the Romans thence- 
forth to obtain raw silk in their own country." 

The same narrative, abridged from Procopius, is found in 
Manuel Glycas [Annal. I. iv. p. 209.), and Zonares (Annal. I. 
xiv. p. 69. ed. Du Cange.). In the abstract given by Photius 
(Biblioth. p. 80. ed. Rotham) of the history of Theophanes 
Byzantinus, who was a writer of nearly the same age with Pro- 
copius, we find a narrative, in which the only variation is, that 
a Persian brought the eggs to Byzantium in the hollow stem 
of a plant. The method now practised in transporting the 
eggs from country to country is to place them in a bottle not 
more than half full, so that by being tossed about, they may be 
kept cool and fresh. If too close, they would probably be heat- 
ed and hatch on the journey*. 

The authors who have hitherto treated of the history of the 
silk-worm, have supposed the Serinda of Procopius to be the 
modern Sir-hind, a city of Circar in the North of Hindostant. 



* Transactions of the Society for encouraging Arts, Manufactures, &c, vol. 
xliii. p. 236. 

t In this they have followed D'Anville, Antiquite Ge"ographique de l'lnde, 
Paris, 1775, p. 63. 



68 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK 

Notwithstanding the striking similarity of names, we think it 
more likely that Serinda was adopted by Procopius as another 
name for Khotan in Little Bucharia. The ancients included 
Khotan among the Indian nations* : and that they were right 
in so doing is established from the facts, that Sanscrit was the 
ancient language of the inhabitants of Khotan ; that their al- 
phabetical characters, their laws, and their literature resembled 
those of the Hindoos ; and that they had a tradition of being In- 
dian in their originf. Since, therefore, Khotan was also in- 
cluded in the ancient Serica, a term probably of wide and ra- 
ther indefinite extent! ; the name Serinda would exactly de- 
note the origin and connexions of the race which occupied 
Khotan. 

On the other hand, although Sir-hind is termed " an ancient 
city" by Major Rennell§, we cannot find any evidence that the 



* In proof of this we refer to Heeren, Ideen, i. I. p. 358-387, on the Indian 
tribes which constituted one of the Persian Satrapies, and in which the inhabi- 
tants of Khotan appear to have been included ; and also to Cellarii Antiqui Orbis 
Notitia, 1. iii. c. 23. § 2. 

t Remusat, Hist, de la Ville de Khotan, p. 32. Note 1. and p. 37. 

X De Guignes (Hist. Gen. des Huns, tome i. p. v.) expresses his opinion, that 
Serica, besides the North of China, included the countries towards the West, which 
were conquered by the Chinese, viz. Hami, Turfan, and other neighboring territo- 
ries. Rennell (Mem. of a map of Hindostan) agrees with D'Anville, that Serica 
was at the Northwest angle of the -present empire of China. Heeren decides 
in favor of the same opinion, supposing Serica to be identical with the modern 
Tongut. Comment. Soc. Reg. Scient. Gottingensis, vol. xi. p. 106. 111. Gottingse, 
1793. 

Pausanias observes that the Seres, in order to breed the insects which produced 
silk, had houses adapted both for summer and winter, which implies that there 
was a vast difference between the summer and winter temperature of their coun- 
try. A late oriental traveller says of the climate of Khotan, " In the summer, 
when melons, ripen, it is very hot in these countries : but, during winter, ex- 
tremely cold." — Wathen's Memoir on Chinese Tartary and Khotan, in Journal of 
the Asiatic Society of Bengal, December 1835, p. 659. 

On referring to the map, Plato VII., the reader will see the position of Serica 
indicated at its Eastern extremity. As that map is limited to the Orbis Veteri- 
bus Cognitus, only a small space on its border is marked as the country of silk 
indicated by the yellow color. It is, nevertheless, pretty certain that silk may be 
justly placed next in order to wool. 

§ Memoir of a Map of Hindostan. 



AFTER ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE. 69 

silk-worm was ever bred there. So far is this from being the 
case, that it appears to be a country very ill adapted for the pro- 
duction of silk*. It may indeed be true, as stated by Latreille, 
that Sir-hind was colonized from Khotan, and it may be men- 
tioned as a remarkable circumstance in confirmation of this 
supposition, that there is a town called Kotana a little way to 
the North East of the City of Sir-hind. But, supposing this 
account to be correct, it is highly probable that the settlement 
of Sir-hind as a colony of Khotan did not take place till after 
the year 530, when the breeding of silk-worms was according 
to Procopius introduced into Europe from " Serinda." Rather 
more than 120 years before this time India was visited by the 
Chinese traveller, Fa Hian, who on his way passed some 
months with great delight and admiration in Khotan ; and the 
special object of whose journey was to see and describe all the 
cities of India where Buddhism was professed. The inhabi- 
tants of Khotan being wholly devoted to that delusion, the 
same system must have been established in its colony; and, 
since this zealous pilgrim crossed India at no great distance 
from the spot where Sir-hind afterwards stood, we cannot doubt 
that he would have mentioned it, if it had existed in his age. 
He says not a word about it ; and the time is comparatively so 
short between his visit to India and the date of the introduction 
of silk- worms into Europe, that we can scarcely suppose Sir-hind, 
the colony of Khotan and consequently the seat of Buddhism, 
to have been in existence either at the former or latter periodf. 
In another passage of his history {Bell. Pers. 1. 20.) Pro- 
copius throws some light upon our subject by stating that in 
consequence of the monopoly of the trade in raw silk by the 
Persians, Justinian attempted to obtain it throngh the i£thi- 

* " The S. W. portion of the Circar Sir-hind is extremely barren, being cover- 
ed with low scrubby wood, and in many places destitute of water. About A. D. 
1357 Feroze the Third cut several canals from the Jumna and the Sutulege hi 
order to fertilize this naturally arid country." — Walter Hamilton's Description of 
Hindostan, vol. i. p. 465. 

t Foe Koue Ki, ou Relation des Royaumes Bouddiques : Voyage dans la Tar- 
taric, dans l'Afghanistan, et dans l'Inde ; traduit du Chinois et commente par 
Remusat, Klaproth, et Landresse. Paris, 1836, 4to. 



70 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK 

opians of Arabia, but found this to be impracticable, as the 
Persian merchants frequented the ports to which the Indian? 
resorted, and from them purchased all their cargoes. 

Procopius further states [Hist. Arcana, c. 25.), that silk 
shawls had long been manufactured in the Phoenician cities 
Tyre and Berytus (to which all who were concerned in the 
silk trade, either as merchants or manufacturers, consequently 
resorted, and from whence goods were carried to every part of 
the earth) ; but that in the reign of Justinian the manufactu- 
rers in Byzantium and other Greek cities raised the prices of 
their goods, alleging that the Persians had also advanced theirs, 
while the imposts were increased among the Romans. Justin- 
ian, pretending to be much concerned at the high prices, for- 
bade any one in his dominions to sell silk for more than eight 
aurei per pound, threatening confiscation of goods against any 
one who transgressed the law. To comply was impossible, 
since they were required to sell their goods at a price lower than 
that for which they bought them. They therefore abandoned 
the trade, and secretly sold the remnant of their goods for what 
they could get. The Empress Theodora, on being apprised of 
this, immediately seized the goods and fined the proprietors a 
hundred aurei besides. It was then determined, that the silk 
manufacture should be carried on solely by the Imperial Treas- 
urer. Peter Barsames held the office, and conducted him- 
self in relation to this business in the most unjust and oppres- 
sive manner, so that the silk-trade was ruined not only in By- 
zantium but also at Tyre and Berytus, while the Emperor, 
Empress and their Treasurer amassed great wealth by the 
monopoly. 

menander protector, a. d. 560-570. 

In an account of an embassy sent to Constantinople by the 
Avars of Sarmatia, this author states, that the Emperor Jus- 
tinian endeavored to excite their admiration by a display of 
splendid couches, gold chains, and garments of silk*. 

The establishment of the Turkish power in Asia, about the 

* Corp. Hist. Byzant. ed. 1729. torn. i. p. 67. 



AFTER ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE. 71 

middle of the sixth century, together with subsequent wars, had 
greatly interrupted the caravan trade between China and 
Persia. On the return of peace, the Sogdians, an Asiatic peo- 
ple, who had the greatest interest in the revival of the trade, 
persuaded the Turkish sovereign, whose subjects they were be- 
come, to send an embassy to Chosroes, king of Persia, to open 
a negotiation for this purpose. Maniak, a Sogdian prince, who 
was ambassador, being instructed to request that the Sogdians 
might be allowed to supply the Persians with silk ; presented 
himself before the Persian monarch in the double character of 
merchant and envoy, carrying with him many bales of silken 
merchandise, for which he hoped to find purchasers among the 
Persians. But Chosroes, who thought the conveyance by sea 
to the Persian Gulf more advantageous to his subjects than this 
proposed traffic, was not disposed to lend a favorable ear to the 
legation, and rather uncourteously showed his contempt for the 
Sogdian traders. He bought up all the silk which the ambas- 
sador had carried with him, and immediately burned it before 
them ; thus giving the most convincing proof of the little value 
which it had in his estimation. 

After this the Persians and Chinese united against the Turks, 
who, to strengthen themselves, sought an alliance with the 
Emperor Justin. Maniak was again appointed ambassador, 
and sent to negotiate the terms of the alliance ; but disappoint- 
ment, though from a dissimilar cause, attended this his second 
embassy. The sight of silk-worms, and the establishment for 
manufacturing their produce, in Constantinople, were to him as 
unwelcome as unexpected ; he however concealed his mortifica- 
tion, and, with perhaps an overstrained civility, acknowledged, 
that the Romans were already become as expert as the Chinese 
in both the management of silk-worms and manufacture of 
their silk* ; and when in the fourth year of Justin II. (i. e. A. D. 
569.) they went on the same mission to Byzantium, they found 
that here also there was no demand, since silk-worms were 
bred there already. Soon after this we learn that the Byzan- 
tines sent an embassy to Disabul, King of the Sogdiani, who 

* Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xlii. 



72 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK 

received the ambassadors in tents covered with variously-colored 
silks. 

PAUL, THE SILENTIARY, A. D. 562, 

mentions silk thread, used in adorning the vestments in the 
church of St. Sophia at Constantinople. (P. ii. 1. 368.) The 
note of the Editor, Du Cange, on the description of the pall, 
(577.), contains various quotations from ecclesiastical writers, 
which mention " vela rubea Serica ;" " vela alba holoserica 
rasata ;" " vela serica de blattin." These quotations show, 
that silk had been introduced into general used for the 
churches. 

ISIDORUS HISPALENSIS, CL., A. D. 575. 

The etymological work of Isodore of Seville may be re- 
garded as a kind of encyclopedia, exhibiting the general state 
of knowledge and art at the time when he wrote. Hence the 
following descriptive extracts are well deserving of attention. 

Bombyx frondium vermis, ex cujus texturS. Bombycinum eonfieitur. Appel- 
lator autem hoc nomine ab eo quod evacuetur dum fila generat, et aer solus in eo 
xemanet. Origin. I. xii. c. 5. 

Bombyx, a worm which lives upon the leaves of trees, and from whose web 
silk is made. It is called Bombyx, because it empties itself in producing threads, 
and nothing but air remains within it. 

The cloth called Bombycina, derives its name from the silk-worm {Bombyx)? 
which emits very long threads ; the web woven from them is called Bombycinum^ 
and is made in the island of Cos. 

That called Serica derives its name from silk (sericum), or from the circum- 
stance, that is was first obtained from the Seres. 

Holoserica is all of silk : for Holon means all. 

Tramoserica has a warp of linen ; and a woof (trama) of silk. — L. xix. e. 22 

Touching these extracts we would remark, that the testi- 
mony of Isidore must not be considered as proving, that the 
silk manufacture still existed in Cos. His statement was no 
doubt merely copied from Varro or Pliny, or founded upon the 
authority of other writers long anterior to his own age. It is 
indeed probable that silk- worms had by this time been brought 
into Greece, but that he was ignorant of the fact. 



AFTER ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE. 73 



SEVENTH CENTURY. 

DOROTHEUS, ARCHIMANDRITE OF PALESTINE, A. D. 601. 

"Qairep yap hSeSvpsvog oXoafipiKov. — Dodr. 2, as quoted in Cod. T/ieodos. Goilio- 
fredi. L. Bat. 1665. 

For as a man wearing a tunic entirely of silk. 

THEOPHYLACTUS SIMOCATTA, A. D. 629. 

This author, in his Universal History (7. vii. c. 9.), informs us 
that the silk manufacture was carried on at Chubdan, with the 
greatest skill and activity, which was probably the same as 
Khotan, or, as it was called in his time, Ku-tan*. 

We have, moreover, the following account of the origin of 
the growth and manufacture of silk in that country (p. 55, 56.). 

" The monastery of Lou-che [occupied by Buddhists) is to 
the south-west of the royal city. Formerly the inhabitants of 
this kingdom had neither mulberries nor silk-worms. They 
heard of them in the East country, and sent an embassy to ask 
for them. The King of the East refused the request, and is- 
sued the strictest injunctions to prevent either mulberries or 
silk-worms' eggs from being conveyed across the border. Then 
the King of Kiu-sa-tan-na (i. e. Koustana, or Khotan) asked 
of him a princess in marriage. This having been granted, the 
king charged the officer of his court who went to escort her, to 
say, that in his country there were neither mulberry-trees nor 
cocoons, and that she must introduce them, or be without silk 
dresses. The princess, having received this information, ob- 
tained the seed both of mulberries, and silk-worms, which 
she concealed in her head-dress. On arriving at the frontier, 
the officers searched every where, but dare not touch the tur- 
ban of the princess. Having arrived at the spot, where the 
monastery of Lou-che was afterwards erected, she deposited 
the seed both of the mulberries and worms. The trees were 
planted in the spring, and she afterwards went herself to assist 
in gathering the leaves. At first the worms were fed upon the 

* Intineraire de Hiuan Thsang, Appendice ii. a Foe Koue Ki, p. 399. 

10 



74 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK 

leaves of other plants, and a law was enacted, that no worms 
were to be destroyed or sacrificed until their quantity was suffi- 
ciently great. The monastery was founded to commemorate so 
great a benefit, and some trunks of the original mulberry-trees 
can yet be seen there*." 

In the following passage (Regne Animal, par Cuvier, torn. 
v. p. 402.,) Latreille mentions Turfan as an important city as 
far as it affected the early silk-trade. In other respects his ac- 
count coincides with that already given. 

" La ville de Turfan, dans la petite Bucharie, fut long-temps le rendez-vous 
des caravanes venant de l'Ouest, et l'entrepdt principal des soieries de la Chine. 
Elle etait la me'tropole des Seres de 1'Asie superieure, ou de la Serique de Pto- 
le'mee. Expulses de leurs pays par les Huns, les Seres s'etablirent dans le grande 
Bucharie et dans l'Inde. C'est d'une de leurs colonies, du Ser-hend (Ser-indi), 
que des missionaires Grecs transporterent, du temps de Justinien, les ceufs du ver 
&, soie k Constantinople." 

The City of Turfan in Little Bucharia was for a long time the rendezvous of 
the caravans coming from the West, and the principal market for Chinese silks. 
It was the metropolis of the Seres of Upper Asia, or the Serica of Ptolemy. The 
Seres having been expelled their country by the Huns, established themselves in 
Great Bucharia and in India. It is from one of their colonies (of Ser-indi), that 
the Grecian Missionaries, in the time of Justinian, brought the eggs of the silk- 
worm to Constantinople. 

A diploma of Ethelbert, King of Kent, mentions " Ar- 
milausia holoserica," proving that silk was known in England 
at the end of the sixth centuryt. The usual dress of the 
earliest French kings seems to have been a linen shirt and 
drawers of the same material next to the skin ; over these a 
tunic, probably of fine wool, which had a border of silk, orna- 
mented sometimes with gold or precious stones ; and upon this 
a sagum, which was fastened with a fibula on the right shoul- 
der. Eginhart informs us, that Charlemange wore a tunic, or 
vest, with a silken border (limbo serico)t. 

* It may be observed, that the folds of the turban are not unfrequently used in 
the East to convey articles of value. See Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor, by 
Charles Fellows, London, 1839, p. 216. 

t Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. i. p. 24. Adelung's Glossarium Manuale, v. Ar- 
milausia. 

% Examples of it may be seen, I. in the two figures of Charlemagne, executed 
in mosaic during his life-time, one of which is preserved in the Penitentiary of St 



AFTER ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE. 75 
ALDHELMUS, CL., A. D. 680. 

This author, who died Abbot of Sherburn, was among the 
most learned men of his age. In his iEnigmas, which are 
written in tetrastics, we find the following description of the 
silk-worm. As it is scarcely possible that he could have seen 
this creature, we have cause to admire both the ingenuity and 
general accuracy of his lines. The ascending to the tops of 
thorns or shrubs, such as " genistse," to which the animal may 
attach its cocoon (globulum), has not been noticed by any 
earlier author. 

De Bombycibus. 
Annua dum redeunt texendi tempora te'as, 
Lurida setigeris replentur viscera fills ; 
Moxque genistarum frondosa cacumina scando, 
Ut globulus fabricans cum fati sorte quiescam. 

Maxima Bibl. Vet. Patrum, torn. xiii. p. 25. 
Soon as tbe year brings round the time to spin, 
My entrails dark with hairy threads are fill'd: 
Then to the leafy lops of shrubs I climb, 
Make my cocoon, and rest by fate's decree. 

In a book written by this author, in praise of virginity, he 
observes, That chastity alone did not form an amiable and per- 
fect character, but required to be accompanied and adorned by 
many other virtues ; and this observation he further illustrates 
by the following simile taken from the art of weaving : " As it 
is not a web of one uniform color and texture, without any 
variety of figures, that pleaseth the eye and appears beautiful, 
but one that is woven by shuttles, filled with threads ofpur- 
jde, and many other colors, flying from side to side, and 
forming a variety of figures and images, in different com- 
partments, with admirable art."— Bibliotheca Patrum, torn. xiii. 



John Lateran at Rome, and both of these are described by Spon in his Miscel- 
lanea Erudita? Antiquitatus (p. 284.) ; II. in the figure of Charles the Bald, the 
grandson of Charlemagne, which is in the splendid copy of the Latin Gospels 
made for his use, now preserved in the library at Munich, and which may bo 
seen engraved in Sanft's Dissertation on that MS. (p. 42.) ; III. in the figure of 
an early French king engraved from a MS. by Baluzius in his Capitularia Re- 
gum Francorum (torn. ii. p. 1308.) ; and IV. in the first volume of Montfaucon's 
Monumens de la Monarchie Francaise. 



76 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK 



EIGHTH CENTURY. 

BEDE, CL., A. D. 701. 

Joseph autem mereatus est sindonem, et deponens eum involvit sindone. (Marc. 
xv. 46.) — Et ex simplici sepultura domini ambitio divitum condemnatur, qui ne in 
tumulis quidem possunt carere divitiis. Possumus autem juxta intelligentiam spir- 
italem hoc sentire, quod corpus domini non auro, non gemmis et serico, sed lintea- 
mine puro obvolvendum sit, quanquam et hoc significet, quod ille in sindone mun- 
da involvat Jesum, qui pura eum mente susceperit. Hinc ecclesias mos obtinuit, 
ut sacrificium altaris non in serico, neque in panno tincto, sed in lino terreno cel- 
ebretur, sicut corpus est domini in sindone munda sepultum, juxta quod in gestis 
pontificalibus a beato Papa Silvestro legimus esse statutum. — Expos, in Marcum, 
torn. v. p. 207. Col. Agrip. 1688. 

But Joseph bought a linen cloth, and, taking him down, wrapped him in the 
linen cloth. (Mark xv. 46.) — The simple burial of our Lord condemns the am- 
bition of rich men, who cannot be without wealth even in their tombs. That his 
body is to be wrapped not in gold, not in silk and precious stones, but in pure 
linen, may be understood by us spiritually. It also intimates, that he incloses 
Jesus in a clean linen cloth, who receives him with a pure mind. Hence the 
custom of the church has obtained, to celebrate the sacrifice of the altar, not in 
silk, nor in dyed cloth, but in earthy flax, as the body of our Lord was buried in 
a clean linen cloth ; for so we read in the pontifical acts, that it was decreed by 
the blessed Pope Silvester. 

The latter portion of this extract, wherein we are informed 
of the origin of the practice, universally adopted, of covering 
the Eucharist with a white linen cloth, must be a later addi- 
tion. Pope Silvester lived, as the reader will perceive, long 
after the time of Bede. 

Bede, in his History of the Abbots of Wearmouth, states 
that the first abbot and founder of the monastery, Biscop, sur- 
named Benedict, went a fifth time to Rome for ornaments and 
books to enrich it, and on this occasion (A. D. 685.) brought 
two scarfs, or palls, of incomparable workmanship, composed 
entirely of silk, with which he afterwards purchased the land 
of three families situated at the mouth of the Wear*. This 
shows the high value of silken articles at that period. 

* Beds Hist. Eccles. &c. cura Jo. Smith. Cantab. 1722. p. 297. Mr. Sharon 
Turner, speaking of Bede, says, " His own remains were inclosed in silk. Mag. 
Bib. xvi. p. 88. It often adorned the altars of the church ; and we read of a pres- 
ent to a West-Saxon bishop of a casula, not entirely of silk, but mixed with goat's 



AFTER ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE. 77 



TENTH CENTURY. 

About the year 970 Kenneth, king of Scotland, paid a visit 
in London to Edgar, king of England. The latter sovereign, 
to evince at once his friendship and munificence, bestowed upon 
his illustrious guest silks, rings, and gems, together with one 
hundred ounces of pure gold*. 

Perhaps we may refer to the same date the composition of 
the " Lady of the Fountain," a Welsh tale, recently translated 
by Lady Charlotte Guestt. At the opening of this poem King 
Arthur is represented sitting in his chamber at Caer-leon upon 
Usk. It is said, 

In the centre of the chamber, King Arthur sat upon a seat of green rushes, 
over which was spread a covering of flame-colored satin, and a cushion covered 
with the same material was under his elbow. 

The mention of silk and satin is frequent in this tale. 

GERBERT, CL., A. D. 970. 

This author, who became Pope Silvester, mentions garments 
of silk (sericas vestes) in a passage which has been already 
quoted (see Part II. chap. V.). 

TWELFTH CENTURY. 

THEODORUS PRODROMUS, 

a romance writer in the twelfth century, mentions the figured 
shaivls (xirrKa) manufactured by the Seres. 

The breeding of silk-worms in Europe appears to have been 
confined to Greece from the time of the Emperor Justinian 
until the middle of the twelfth century. The manufacture 



wool." Ibid. p. 50. He refers to p. 97. of the same volume, as mentioning " pal- 
lia holoserica." — History of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. iii. book vii. chap. 4. p. 48, 49 

* Lingard's Hist, of England, vol. i. 241. London, 1819, 4to. 

t The Mabinogion, from the Llyfr Coch o Hergest and other ancient Welsh 
manuscripts ; with an English translation and notes. By Lady Charlotte Guest 
Part I. The Lady of the Fountain. Llandovery, 1838. 



78 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK 

of silk was also very rare in other parts of Europe, being prob- 
ably practised only as a recreation and accomplishment for 
ladies. But in the year 1148 Roger I., King of Sicily, having 
taken the cities of Corinth, Thebes, and Athens, thus got into 
his power a great number of silk-weavers, took them away 
with the implements and materials necessary for the exercise 
of their art, and forced them to reside at Palermo*. Nicetas 
Choniatest, referring to the same event, speaks of these arti- 
sans as of both sexes, and remarks that in his time those who 
went to Sicily might see the sons of Thebans and Corinthians 
employed in weaving velvet stoles interwoven with gold, and 
serving like the Eretrians of old among the Persians]:. 

We find in the writings of Ingulphus several curious ac- 
counts of vestments of silk, interwoven with eagles and flowers 
of gold. This author, in his history, mentions that among 
other gifts made by Witlaf, king of Mercia, to the abbey of 
Croyland, he presented a golden curtain, embroidered with 
the siege of Troy, to be hung up in the church on his birth- 
day§. At a later period, 1155, a pair of richly worked san- 
dals, and three mitres, the work of Christina, abbess of Mark- 
gate, were among the valuable souvenirs presented by Robert, 
abbot of St. Albans, to Pope Adrian IV.||. 



* Otto Frisingen, Hist. Imp. Freder. 1. i. c. 33. in Muratori, Rerum Italicarum 
Scriptores, torn. vi. p. 668. 

t In Manuel ComnenuSj 1. ii. c. 8., torn. xii. of the Scriptores Hist. Byzantinae, 
p. 51. ed. Ven. 

X Hugo Falcandus, who visited this manufactory A. D. 1169, represents it as 
being then in the most flourishing condition, producing great quantities of silks, 
both plain and figured, of many different colors, and enriched with gold 

§ Ingulphus, p. 487, edit. 1596. 

|] Adrian IV., was the only Englishman that ever sat in St. Peter's chair. His 
name was Nicolas Breakspear : he was born of poor parents at Langley, near St. 
Albans. Henry II., on his promotion to the papal chair, sent a deputation of an 
abbot and three bishops to congratulate him on his election ; upon which occasion 
he granted considerable privileges to the abbey of St. Albans. With the excep- 
tion of the presents named above, he refused all the other valuable ones which 
were offered him, saying jocosely, — " I will not accept your gifts, because when 
I wished to take the habit of your monastery you refused me." To which the 
abbot pertinently and smartly replied, — " It was not for us to oppose the will of 
Providence, which had destined you for greater things." 



AFTER ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE. 79 

Without digressing from our subject to question the right 
of the royal marauder thus tyrannously to sever these unof- 
fending artisans from the ties of country and of kindred, we 
may yet be allowed to express some satisfaction at the conse- 
quences of his cruelty. It is well for the interests of humanity 
that blessings, although unsought and remote, do sometimes 
follow in the train of conquest ; that wars are not always lim- 
ited in their results to the exaltation of one individual, the 
downfall of another, the slaughter of thousands, and misery 
of millions, but occasionally prove the harbingers of peaceful 
arts, heralds of science, and in short deliverers from the yoke 
of slavery or superstition. 

In twenty years from this forcible establishment of the man- 
ufacture, the silks of Sicily are described as having attained a 
decided excellence ; as being of diversified patterns and colors ; 
some fancifully interwoven with gold — tastefully embellished 
with figures ; and others richly adorned with pearls. The in- 
dustry and ingenuity thus called forth, could not fail to exer- 
cise a beneficial influence over the character and condition of 
the Sicilians. 

From Palermo the manufacture of silk extended itself 
through all parts of Italy and into Spain. We learn from 
Roger de Hoveden, that the manufacture flourished at Alme- 
ria in Grenada about A. D. 1190*. 

FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 

According to Nicholas Tegrinit, the silk manufacture after- 
wards flourished in Lucca ; and the weavers, having been 
ejected from that city in the earlier part of the fourteenth cen- 
tury, carried their art to Venice, Florence, Milan, Bologna, and 
even to Germany, France, and Britain. 

We have seen from different historical testimonies, that silk 
was known to the inhabitants of France and England as early 
as the sixth century. The fact of its introduction into all parts 

* " Deinde per nobilem civitatem, quae dicitur Almaria, ubi fit nobile sericum et 
delicatum, quod dicitur sericum de Almaria." Scriptores post Bedam, p. 671. 
t Vita Castraccii, in Muratori, Rer. Ital. Scriptores, t. xi. p. 1320. 



80 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP SILK. 

of the North of Europe is manifest from the use of words for 
silk in several northern languages. These words appear, ac- 
cording to the inquiries of the learned orientalists, Klaproth 
and Abel Remusat*, to have been derived from those Asiatic 
countries, in which silk was originally produced. In the lan- 
guage of Corea silk is called Sir ; in Chinese JSe, which may- 
have been produced by the usual omission of the final r. In 
the Mongol language silk is called Sirkek, in the Mandchou 
iSirghe. In the Armenian the silk-worm is called Cheram. 
In Arabic, Chaldee, and Syriac, silk was called Serict. From 
the same source we have in Greek and Latin Si?p«ov, Sericum. 

In the more modern European languages we find two sets 
of terms for silk, the first evidently derived from the oriental 
Seric, but with the common substitution of I for r, the second 
of an uncertain origin. To the first set belong, 

Chelk, silk, in Slavonian. 

JSilke, in Suio-Gothic and Icelandic!. 

Silcke, in Danish. 

Siolc or Seolc, silk, in Anglo-Saxon. Also Siolcen or 

Seolcen, silken ; Gal reolcen, 
Holosericus ; Seolcpynm, silk- 
worm §. 

* Journal Asiatique, 1823, torn. ii. p. 246. Julius Klaproth (Tableau Historique 
de 1'Asie, Paris, 1826, p. 57, 58.) says, that in the year 165 B. C. the inhabi- 
tants of the country called by us Tangut, who constituted a powerful kingdom, 
were attacked by the Hioimg Nou, and driven to the West, where they fixed 
themselves in Transoxiana, and that these events led to an uninterrupted com- 
munication with Persia and India, especially in regard to the silk trade. Klap- 
roth considers that the Seres of the ancients were the Chinese ; but he appears to 
include under that term all the nations which were brought into subjection to the 
Chinese. 

Professor Karl Ritter (Erdkunde, Asien, Band iv. 2 te Auflage, Berlin, 1835, 
p. 437.) observes, in allusion to the authority just quoted, that all the names of 
the silk -worm and its products are to be accounted for on the supposition (which 
he considers the true one) that they were first known and cultivated in China, 
and from thence extended through central Asia into Europe. 

t See Schindler's Pentaglott, p. 1951, D. 

t SUM trojo ermalausa, a silk tunic without sleeves. Knitlynga Saga, p. 114, 
as quoted by Ihre, Glossar. Suio-Goth. v. Armalausa. 

§ iElfric's Glossary (made in the tenth centuiy), p. 68. Appendix to Sumner's 
Dictionary. 



AFTER ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE. 81 

Silk, silk, iii English*. 

Sirig; in Welshf. 

To the second set belong, 
Seda, silk, in the Latin of the middle ages. 

Seta, in Italian. 

Seide, ■ in German. 

Side, in Anglo-Saxon. Also Sidene, 

silken, iElfric as quoted by Lye ; 

Sidpypm, silk-worm, Junius, 1. c. 

Sidan, in Welsh. 

Satin, in French and English!. 

According to Abel Remusat {Journal Asiat. I. c.) the mer- 
chandise of Eastern Asia passed through Slavonia to the North 
of Europe in the middle ages, even without the mediation of 
Greece or Italy. This may account for the use of the terms 
of the first class, while it is possible that those of the second 
have been derived from the South of Europe, from whence we 
have seen that silken commodities were also occasionally trans- 
ported to the North. 

To the evidence now produced from authors and printed 
documents respecting the history of silk from the earliest times 
to the period of its universal extension throughout Europe, an- 
other species of proof may be added, viz. that afforded by Relics 
preserved in churches, and by other remains of the antiquities 
of the middle ages. As examples of this method for illustrating 
the subject, the following articles may be enumerated. 

I. The relics of St. Regnobert, Bishop of Bayeux in the 
seventh century. These consist of a Casula, or Chasuble, a 
Stole, and a Maniple. They are yet preserved in the cathe- 
dral of Bayeux, and worn by the Bishop on certain annual fes- 



* Nicholas Fuller (Miscellanea, p. 248.) justly observes, Vocabulnm Anglica- 
num Selk non nisi Sericum authorem generis sui agnoscit. Selk enim nuncupa- 
tum est quasi Selik pro Serik, literae r in 1 facili commutatione facta.. 

Minshew and Skinner give the same etymology. 

t Junius, Etymologicum, v. Silk. It appears doubtful, however, whether Ju- 
nius is here to be depended on. 

t Menage, Diction. Etym. de la Langue Franchise, torn. ii. p. 457, ed. Joult. 

11 



82 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK 

tivals. They are of silk interwoven with gold, and adorned 
with pearls*. 

II. Portions of garments of the same description with those 
of St. Regnobert were discovered A. D. 1827 on opening the 
tomb of St. Cuthbert in the Cathedral of Durham. They are 
preserved in the library of that church, and accurately described 
by the Rev. James Raine, the librarian, in a quarto volume. 

III. The scull-cap of St. Simon, said to have been made 
in the tenth century, and now preserved in the Cathedral of 
Treves. Its border is interwoven with gold. 

In regard to these interesting relics, they may with confi- 
dence be looked upon as specimens of the manufacture of silk 
from the seventh to the twelfth century. 

IV. In the Cathedral at Hereford is a charter of one of the 
Popes with the bull (the leaden seal), attached to it by silken 
threads. Silk was early used for this purpose in the South of 
Europef. The Danish kings began to use silk to append the 
waxen seals to their charters about the year lOOOt. 

V. Silk, in the form of velvet, may be seen on some of the 
ancient armor in the Tower of London. 

VI. The binding of ancient manuscripts affords specimens 
of silk. A French translation of Ludolphus Saxo's Life of 
Christ in four folio volumes, among Dr. William Hunter's 
MSS. at Glasgow, still has its original binding covered with 
red velvet, which is probably as old as the fourteenth century. 
A curious source of information on the art of book-binding at 
that period is the Inventory, or Catalogue of the library col- 
lected by that ardent lover of books, Charles V. of France. 
As this catalogue particularly describes the bindings of about 
1200 volumes, many of which were very elaborate and splen- 
did, it enables us to judge of the use made of all the most valu- 
able stuffs and materials which could be employed for this pur- 
pose, and under the head of silk we find the following : " soie," 

* See John Spencer Smythe's Description de la Chasuble de Saint Regnobert, 
in the Proces Verbal de l'Acade"mie lioyale des Sciences, Arts, et Belles Lettres, 
de la Ville de Caen, Stance d'Avril 14, 1820. 

t Mabillon de Re Diplomatic^., 1. ii. cap. 19. § 6. 

% Diplomatarium Arna-Magnseanum, a Thorkelin, torn. i. p. xliv. 



AFTER ITS FIRST INTRODUCTION INTO EUROPE. 83 

silk ; " veluyau," velvet ; " satanin," satin ; " damas," damask ; 
" taffetas," taffetas ; " camocas ;" " cendal ;" and " drap dor," 
cloth of gold, having probably a basis or ground of silk*. 

From the few examples of ancient Catholic vestments that 
have escaped destruction, the generality of persons are but 
little acquainted with the extreme beauty of the embroidery 
worked for ecclesiastical purposes during the Middle Ages. 
The countenances of the images were executed with perfect 
expression, like miniatures in illuminated manuscripts. Every 
parochial church, previous to the Reformation, was furnished 
with complete sets of frontals and hangings for the altars. One 
of the great beauties of the ancient embroidery was its appro- 
priate design ; each flower, leaf, and device having a signifi- 
cant meaning with reference to the festival to which the vest- 
ment belonged. Such was the extreme beauty of the English 
vestments in the reign of Henry III., that Innocent IV. for- 
warded bulls to many English bishops, enjoining them to send 
a certain quantity of embroidered vestments to Rome, for the 
use of the clergyt- 

* See Inventaire de l'Ancienne Biblioteque due Louvre, fait en l'annee 1373. 
Paris, 1836, 8vo. 

t The art of embroidery seems to have attained a higher degree of perfection 
in France, than any other country in Europe ; — it is not, however, so much prac- 
tised now. Embroiderers formerly composed a great portion of the working pop- 
ulation of the largest towns ; laws were specially framed for their protection, 
some of which would astonish the working people of the present day. They 
were formed into a company as early as 1272, by Etienne Boileau, Prevot de 
Paris, under their respective names of " Brodeurs, Decoupeurs, Egratigneurs, and 
Chasubiters." 

In the last and preceding centuries, when embroidery, as an article of dress 
both for men and women, was an object of considerable importance, the Ger- 
mans, and more particularly those of Vienna, disputed the palm of excellence 
with the French. At the same period, Milan and Venice were also celebrated 
for their embroidery ; but the prices were so extravagantly high, that according 
to Lamarre, its use was forbidden by sumptuary laws. 



CHAPTER V, 

SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OF THE ANCIENTS. 



HIGH DEGREE OF EXCELLENCE ATTAINED IN THIS MANUFACTURE. 

Manufacture of golden textures in the time of Moses — Homer — Golden tunics of 
the Lydians — Their Use by the Indians and Arabians — Extraordinary display 
of scarlet robes, purple, striped with silver, golden textures, &c, by Darius, 
king of Persia — Purple and scarlet cloths interwoven with gold — Tunics and 
shawls variegated with gold — Purple garments with borders of gold — Golden 
chlamys — Attalus, king of Pergamus, not the inventor of gold thread — Bostick 
— Golden robe worn by Agrippina — Caligula and Heliogabalus — Sheets inter- 
woven with gold used at the obsequies of Nero — Babylonian shawls intermixed 
with gold — Silk shawls interwoven with gold — Figured cloths of gold and Ty- 
rean purple — Use of gold in the manufacture of shawls by the Greeks — 
4,000,000 sesterces (about $150,000) paid by the Emperor Nero for a Baby- 
lonish coverlet — Portrait of Constantius II. — Magnificence of Babylonian car- 
pets, mantles, &c. — Median sindones. 

The use of gold in weaving may be traced to the earliest 
times, but seems to be particularly characteristic of oriental 
manners. 

It was employed in connexion with woollen and linen thread 
of the finest colors to enrich the ephod, girdle, and breast-plate 
of Aaron*. The sacred historian goes so far as to describe the 

* "And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. 
And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and 
fine twined linen, with cunning work. It shall have the two shoulder-pieces 
thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together. And 
the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according 
to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine 
twined linen. And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the 
names of the children of Israel : six of their names on one stone, and the other 
six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth. With the work 
of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet shalt thou engrave the 
two stones with the names of the children of Israel : thou shalt make them to be 
set in ouches of gold. And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of 
the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel : and Aaron shall 



SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OF THE ANCIENTS. 85 

mode of preparing the gold to be used in weaving : " And they 
did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work 
it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the 
fine linen, with cunning work." — Ex. xxxix. 2-8. The his- 
torian certainly does not intend to describe the process of wire- 
drawing, nor probably the art of making gold thread. It 
seems likely, that neither of these ingenious manufactures 
were invented in his time. The queen described in Ps. xiv., 
wears " clothing of wrought gold*." Homer mentions " a golden 
girdle," (Od. c 232. k. 543.). He also describes an upper gar- 
ment, which Penelope made for Ulysses before going to Illium. 
On the front part of it a beautiful hunting piece was wrought 
in gold. It is thus described. " A dog holds a fawn with its 
fore feet, looking at it as it pants with fear and strives to make 
its escape." This, he says, was the subject of universal admi- 
rationt- 

Pisander, who probably lived at the same period with Homer, 
speaks of the Lydians as wearing tunics adorned with gold. 
Lydus, who has preserved this expression of the ancient cyclic 
poet, observes that the Lydians were supplied with gold from 
the sands of the Pactolus and the Hermus+. 

Virgil also represents the use of gold in weaving, as if it had 
existed in Trojan times. One of the garments so adorned was 
made by Dido, the Sidonian, another by Andromache, and a 
third was in the possession of Anchises§. In all these instances 
the reference is to the habits of Phcenice, Lycia, or other parts 
of Asia. 

Among all the Asiatics, none were more remarkable than 

bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial. And 
thou shalt make ouches of gold ; and two chains of pure gold at the ends ; of 
wreathen work shalt thou make them, and fasten the wreathen chains to the 
ouches. And thou shalt make the breast -plate of judgment with cunning work ; 
after the work of the ephod shalt thou make it ; of gold, of blue, and of purple, 
and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen shalt thou make it." — Ex. xxviii. 5-15. 

* " The king's daughter is all glorious within : her clothing is of wrought 
gold."— Ps. xlv. 13. 

+ Od. r. 225-235. 

t De Magistratibus Rom. L. iii. § 64. 

§ Mm. iii. 483. ; iv. 264. ; viii. 167. ; xi. 75. 



86 SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OF THE ANCIENTS. 

the Persians for the display of textures of gold, as well as every 
other kind of luxury in dress. A tiara interwoven with gold 
was one of the presents which Xerxes gave as an expression of 
his gratitude to the citizens of Abdera [Herod, viii. 120.). 
The Indians also employed the same kind of ornament (Strabo, 
L. xv. c. i. § 69.) ; and the Periegesis (/. 881.) of Priscian at- 
tributes the use of it to the Arabians*. 

The history of Alexander the Great affords frequent traces 
of the use of cloth interwoven with gold in Persia. Garments 
made of such cloth were among the most splendid of the 
spoils of Persepolisf. 

Justin (L. xii.) says that Alexander, to avoid offending the 
Persians, ordered his principal attendants to adopt for their 
dress "longam vestem auream purpureamque." The dress 
prescribed was therefore of fine woollen cloth, or probably of 
silk, dyed purple, and interwoven with gold. Among the vast 
multitudes which preceded the King of Persia when he ad- 
vanced to oppose Alexander, was the band of ten thousand 
called the Immortals, whose dress was carried to the ' ne plus 
ultra' of barbaric splendor, some wearing golden collars, others 
"cloth variegated with gold." Some idea of the extravagance 
and pomp of the Persians on this occasion may be formed from 
the following passage, taken from Rollin's " Ancient History." 

" The order Darius observed in his march was as follows. Before the army 
were carried silver altars, on which burned the fire, called by them sacred and 
eternal ; and these were followed by the magi, singing hymns, and 365 youths in 
scarlet robes. After these proceeded a consecrated car, drawn by white horses 
and followed by one of an extraordinary size, which they called " The horse of the 
sun." The equerries were dressed in white, each bearing in his hand a golden 
rod. Next appeared ten sumptuous chariots, enriched with curious sculptures in 
gold and silver ; and then the vanguard of the horse, composed of twelve different 
nations, in various armor. This body was succeeded by those of the Persians, 
called " The Immortals," amounting to 10,000, who surpassed the rest of the 
barbarians in the extravagant richness and splendor of their dress ; for they all 
wore collars of gold, and were clothed in robes of gold tissue, having large 
sleeves, garnished with precious stones. About thirty paces from them came the 

* In Europe the nearest approach to oriental habits in regard to dress was made 
by the Gauls. Their principal men wore collars, armlets, and bracelets of gold, 
and clothes enriched with the same metal. — Strabo, L. iv. cap. 4. § 5. 

t Diod. Sic, L. xvii. 70. p. 214. Wessel. 



SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OP THE ANCIENTS. 87 

king's relations or cousins, to the number of 15,000, apparelled like women, and 
more remarkable for the pomp of their dress than the glitter of their arms ; and af- 
ter these Darius attended by his guards, seated on a chariot, as on a throne. The 
chariot was enriched, on both sides, with images of the gods in gold and silver ; 
and from the middle of the yoke, which was covered with jewels, rose two statues, 
a cubit in height ; the one representing War, the other Peace, having between 
them a golden eagle with wings extended. The king was attired in a garment 
of purple striped with silver; over which was a long robe, glittering with gold 
and precious stones, and whereon two falcons were represented as if rushing from 
the clouds at each other. Around his waist he wore a golden girdle, from whence 
hung scimitar, the scabbard of which was covered with gems. On each side of 
Darius walked 200 of his nearest relations, followed by 10,000 horsemen, whose 
lances were plated with silver, and tipped with gold. After these marched 30,000 
foot, the rear of the army, and, lastly, 400 horses belonging to the king. 

" About 100 paces from the royal divisions of the army came Sisygambis, the 
mother of Darius, seated on a chariot, and his consort on another, with female at- 
tendants of both queens riding on horseback. Afterwards came fifteen chariots, 
in which were the king's children, and their tutors. Next to these were the royal 
concubines, to the number of 360, all attired like so many queens. These were 
followed by 600 mules, and 300 camels, carrying the king's treasure, and guarded 
fay a body of bowmen. After these came the wives pf the crown officers, and the 
lords of the court ; then the suttlers, servants ; and, lastly, a body of light armed 
troops, with their commanders." 

At the nuptials of Alexander purple and scarlet cloths, in- 
terwoven with gold, were expanded over the guests : and a 
pall of the same description covered the golden sarcophagus 
made to contain his body. Among the splendid ornaments of 
the tent erected not long after at Alexandria by Ptolemy Phil- 
adelphus, there were tunics interwoven with gold : and in the 
procession on the same occasion, the colossal statues of Bacchus 
and his nurse Nysa were attired ; the former in a shawl ; the 
latter in a tunic variegated with gold. Probably we may refer 
to the same country and age the " golden tunic" mentioned in 
one of the Arundle marbles (No. xxii. 2.). Also the tent pitch- 
ed by Arsace with hangings of gold and purple tissues, and 
the robe of similar materials worn by Arsace herself, as de- 
scribed by Heliodorus {JEthiop. vii.), relate to the customs of 
the same country. 

Another of the successors of Alexander, viz. Demetrius 
Poliorcetes, wore purple garments with borders of gold*. 

* Plutarch, Demet. 41. 



SO SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OP THE ANCIENTS. 

Themistius describes a portrait of one of the kings of Persia, 
who wore, together with the tiara and the collar or necklace, 
a purple shawl interwoven with gold {Orat. 24. p. 369. ed, 
Dindorf.). 

During the periods to which the preceding evidence has allu- 
sion, it is not probable that cloth of gold was in use among the 
Greeks and Romans except to a very limited extent. Never- 
theless it does not appear to have escaped the avidity for every 
species of excellence, which in early times distinguished the in- 
habitants of Magna Grsecia. For, when Pythagoras became 
a teacher of wisdom and philosophy at Crotona, among other 
lessons of frugality he persuaded the matrons to put off their 
" golden garments" with other fashionable ornaments, and de- 
posit them in the temple of Juno as offerings to the goddess*. 
In a passage attributed to Menander we meet with the men- 
tion of a "golden or purple chlamys" as a suitable offering to 
the godsf. Hedylus of Samos, a writer of the same age, de- 
scribes a woman of loose morals, by name Niconoe, as wearing 
a tunic striped with gold [Brunctts Analecta, i. 483.). 

Attalus, king of Pergamus, is said by Pliny (L. viii. cap. 48.) 
to have invented the art of embroidering with gold thread}. 
Nevertheless we have seen, that gold was thus used long before 
the time of Attalus. But there can be no doubt, that he es- 
tablished and maintained a great manufacture of these stuffs 
at Pergamus ; thus contributing greatly to improve the art, 
and bring these cloths into more general use. 

The next passage is from Dr. Bostock's translation of the 
33rd Book, ch. xix. " Gold may be spun or woven like wool, 
without the latter being mixed with it. We are informed by 
Verrius, that Tarquinius Priscus rode in triumph in a tunic of 
gold ; and we have seen Agrippina, the wife of the Emperor 
Claudius, when he exhibited the spectacle of a naval combat, 
sitting by him covered with a robe made entirely of woven 
gold. In what are called the Attalic stuffs, the gold is woven 



* Justin, L. XX. c. 4. 

t Menandri Reliquiae, a Meineke, p. 306. Bockh, Gr. Trag. Principes,p. 157. 

t See Appendix A. 



SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OP THE ANCIENTS. 89 

with some other substance. This art was the invention of one 
of the kings of Asia." 

In Book xxxv. c. 36. Pliny says that Zeuxis, to display his 
wealth at Olympia, caused his name to be woven in gold in 
the compartments of his outer garment. 

Caligula once wore a tunic interwoven with gold. Heliogab- 
alus was far more profuse in regard to this kind of splendor. 
White sheets, interwoven with gold, were used at the funeral 
obsequies of Nero*. We may here observe, that the use of gold 
in dress almost invariably accompanied that of silk. The 
same Emperors who took delight in the one, indulged them- 
selves with the other also. On the contrary, Alexander Seve- 
rus, as we shall show when treating of linen in Part IV., was 
economical in both these respects. 

In Chapters II. and III., we quoted several passages which 
make mention of cloth of gold, from Tibullus, Ovid, Seneca 
the Tragedian, Lucan, Dio Cassius, Claudian, Virgil, Gregorius 
Nazienzenus, and Basil, all of which speak of cloth of gold. 
Ovid mentions purple garments variously colored and inter- 
woven with gold, as belonging to Bacchus. — Met. hi. 556. 

Publius Syrus was a writer of the same period. In the fol- 
lowing fragment preserved by Petronius Arbiter, he compares 
the train of the peacock to Babylonian stuffs enriched with 
gold and various colors : 

Thy food the peacock, which displays his spotted train, 
As shines a Babylonian shawl with feather'd gold ! 

Shawls, interwoven with gold, are mentioned by Galenf, and 
by Valerius Flaccust ; also by Lucan in the following passage, 
where he is describing the furniture of Cleopatra's palace (x. 
125, 126.) : 

Part shines with feather'd gold, part sheds a blaze 
Of scarlet, intermixed by Pharian looms ! 

The following passages also contain evidence on the same 
subject. 

* Suetonius, Nero, 50. t Quoted in Chapter II. 

X Auro depicta chlamys. 

12 



90 SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OF THE ANCIENTS. 



SENECA, THE PHILOSOPHER. 

As yet figured cloths did not exist : gold was not woven, it was not even ex- 
tracted from the ground. — Epist. 91. 

LUCIAN 

descnhes the tragic actors, when they performed the part of 
kings, as wearing a chlamys interwoven with gold*. 

APULEIUS. 

They carefully spread over the couches, cloths figured with gold and Tyrian 
purple. — Met 

PHILOSTRATUS 

depicts Midas wearing a golden robet. 

NEMESIANUS. 
In thy scarf's woof much sportive gold display. — Cyneg. 91. 

The poet is addressing Diana and describing her attire. 

AUSONIUS. 
Weave flexile gold within thy shawls, O Greecet. 

This is the Jirst passage since the time of Homer, which men- 
tions Greece as concerned in weaving with gold. But Auso- 
nius probably alluded to the Greeks of Asia Minor, as, besides 
the evidence produced from Basil, we have seen that Pergamus 
was one of the most noted places for these productions, which 
were on that account called " Attalicse vestes§." 

* Somnium, vol. ii. p. 742. ed. Hemsterhusii. 

t Imag. i. 22. t Epigram 37. 

§ " I find evidence that kings wore the striped toga ; that figured cloths were 
in use even in the days of Homer ; and that these gave rise to the triumphal. 
To produce this effect with the needle was the invention of the Phrygians, on 
which account cloths so embroidered have been called Phrygionic. In the same 
part of Asia king Attalus discovered the art of inserting a woof of gold (?) ; from 
which circumstance the Attalic cloths received their name (?). Babylon first ob- 
tained celebrity by its method of diversifying the picture with different colors, 
and gave its name to textures of this description. But to weave with a great 
number of leashes, so as to produce the cloths called polymita (the polymita were 
damask cloths), was first taught in Alexandria ; to divide by squares (plaids) in 



SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OP THE ANCIENTS. 91 

When Ausonius was appointed Consul at Rome A. D. 379, 
his friend and former pupil, the Emperor Gratian, sent him as 
a present a toga in which was inserted a figure of Constantius 
II., wrought in gold. — Ausonii Gratiarum Actio, § 53. 

CLAUDIAN 

mentions with delight the use of gold in dress as well as of 
silk. His testimony has been given in chapter III. of this 
Part. 

SIDONIUS APOLLINARIS 

mentions the gold in the dress of Prince Sigismer. His testi- 
mony is also given in chapter III. 

CORIPPUS, 

describing the accession of Justin II. to the Empire (A. D. 565), 
mentions (L. ii.) his tunic enriched with gold as part of his im- 
perial costume. 

PAULINUS. 

Misceturque ostro mollitum in fila metellum. 

De Vita Martini, L. iii. 

We find the following law in the Codex Justinianus : 

Nemo vir auratas in tunicis aut in lincis habeat paragaudas : nisi hi tantum- 
modo, quibus hoc propter Imperiale ministerium concessum est. 

Corpus Juris Civilis, torn. v. tit. viii. leg. 2. 

The " aurata paragauda" was a border of gold lace or 
thread. It appears that ladies might wear it on their tunics, 
while men were only permitted to use it in token of their of- 
ficial character as being in the service of the emperor. In al- 
lusion to these or similar regulations, iElius Lampridius (34) 
says of the emperor Alexander Severus, 

Gaul. Metellus Scipio brought it as an accusation against Cato, that even in his 
time Babylonian coverlets for triclinia were sold for 800,000 sesterces (about 
$30,000), although the emperor Nero lately gave for them no less than 4,000,000 
sesterces (about $150,000). The prcetextce of Servius Tullius, covering the stat- 
ue of Fortune which he dedicated, remained until the death of Sejanus, and it is 
wonderful that they had neither decayed of themselves nor been injured by moths 
during the space of 560 years." — Plin. H. N. viii. 64. (See Appendix A.) 



92 SILK AND GOLDEN TEXTURES OF THE ANCIENTS. 
Auratam vestem ministerium nullus vel in publico convivio habuit. 

The testimony of Ambrose, Jerome, and Basil has been 
given in Chapter III., which see. 

From the book of Joshua we learn that the woven stuffs of 
Babylon were not confined to domestic use, but exported into 
foreign countries. The two chief productions of Babylonian 
looms were carpets and shawls. One of the principal objects 
of luxury in Asia from the remotest ages, were nowhere so 
finely woven, and in such rich colors as at Babylon. On the 
Babylonian carpets were woven or depicted representations of 
those fabulous animals the dragon and griffin, together with 
other unnatural combinations of form, probably originating in 
India, and with which we have become acquainted by the 
ruins of Persepolis. It was by means of the Babylonian man- 
ufactures, that the knowledge of these fanciful and imaginary 
beings, was conveyed to the Western world, and from them 
transferred to the Greek vases. " A mantle of Shinar," or as 
our translators have rendered it, "A Babylonish garment," 
was secreted by Achan from the spoils of Jericho ; and the 
delinquent speaks of this as being the most valuable part of his 
plunder*. Next to carpets and shawls, the Babylonian garments 
called Sindones were held in the highest estimation. The 
most costly Sindones, were so much valued for their fineness 
of texture and brilliancy of color, as to be compared to those of 
Media, and set apart for royal use ; they were even to be found 
at the tomb of Cyrus, which was profusely decorated with every 
species of furniture in use among the Persian monarchs during 
their fives. 



* " When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two 
hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I 
coveted them, and took them, and behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst 
of my tent, and the silver under it." — Joshua vii. 21. 



FZateH 




-wiiiL tlie processes of Spinning axLd 'Win ding. 



CHAPTER VI, 

SILVER TEXTURES, &c, OF THE ANCIENTS. 



EXTREME BEAUTY OF THESE MANUFACTURES. 

Magnificent dress worn by Herod Agrippa, mentioned in Acts xii. 21 — Josephus's 
account of this dress, and dreadful death of Herod — Discovery of ancient Piece- 
goods— Beautiful manuscript of Theodolphus, Bishop of Orleans, who lived in 
the ninth century — Extraordinary beauty of Indian, Chinese, Egyptian, and 
other manufactured goods preserved in this manuscript — Egyptian arts — Wise 
regulations of the Egyptians in relation to the arts — Late discoveries in Egypt 
by the Prussian hierologist, Dr. Lepsius — Cloth of glass. 

The Evangelist Luke, in Acts xii. 21. speaks of the " royal 
apparel," in which Herod Agrippa, king of Judea, was arrayed 
when he received the ambassadors of Tyre and Sidon, sitting 
in great state upon his throne at Csesarea. " And upon a set 
day, Herod arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and 
made an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout, 
saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And im- 
mediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave 
not God the glory : and he was eaten of worms, and gave up 
the ghost." 

Josephus describes the same garment, which was a tunic, 
as " all made of silver, and wonderful in its texture." He 
adds, that the king appeared in this dress at break of day in 
the theatre, and that the silver, illuminated by the first rays 
of the sun, glittered in such a manner as to terrify the behold- 
ers, so that his flatterers began to call out aloud, saluting him 
as a god. He was then seized with the 'painful and loath- 
some distemper, of which he soon after died*. 

We extract the following curious account of the discovery 
of Ancient Piece-goods and manufactured stuffs from a late 

* Ant. Jud. L. xix. cap. 8. § 2. p. 871. Hudson. 



94 SILVER TEXTURES, ETC. OF THE ANCIENTS 

number of an English publication called the " Mining Re- 
view." 

Discovery of ancient Piece-goods and manufactured stuffs. — 
" It is more than a thousand years since Theodolphus, Bishop 
of Orleans, gave to Notre Dame du Puy en Velay a beautiful 
manuscript, containing the ancient Testament, the chronogra- 
phy of St. Isidor, and other pieces, the whole distributed into 
138 articles ; which he presented in token of gratitude for his 
deliverance from the prison of Angers, where he was confined 
in the year 835. It was on Palm Sunday that year, while 
Louis Le Debonnaire was passing, that he began to sing a 
well-known Canticle, which the Catholic church has since 
then introduced into its ceremonies. This precious manu- 
script, in a state of perfect preservation, is to be seen in the 
archives of the Bishopric of the Puy en Velay, department of 
the Haute Loire. A portion of the manuscript is written on 
leaves of common parchment, in letters of red and black, with 
a few of gold intermixed. The other portion is inscribed on 
leaves of parchment, dyed purple, with letters of gold and 
silver, among which are observed, ornaments of different kinds 
and colors, designated the " Byzantine style? The manu- 
script, remarkable for its beauty and preservation, is still more 
valuable for the manufactured stuffs which it contains. When 
Theodolphus composed his manuscript, with the intention of 
preserving from contact and friction the gold and silver char- 
acters (which, in time, would have tended to displace and ob- 
literate them), he placed between each page a portion of the 
manufactured tissues peculiar to the era in which he lived. 
These specimens of the silk, and other pieces of goods of the 
time are thus curiously preserved*. Till lately, little attention 
was paid to these tissues, which are principally of India man- 
ufacture, bearing scarcely any analogy to the products of the 
modern loom. Some are CASHMERE SHAWLS of those 
patterns, which the French call broucha and espouline, and are 

* A shred of gold cloth is preserved in the Museum of Antiquities at Leyden, 
which is supposed to have been discovered in one of the ancient tombs at Tar- 
quinia in Etruria. In this tissue the gold forms a compact covering over bright 
yellow silk. 



SILVER TEXTURES, ETC., OF THE ANCIENTS. 95 

made in the Indian fashion, but with this difference, that they 
are limited to four colors, and demonstrate the greatest anti- 
quity by the primitive simplicity of their colors and design. 
Others are CRAPES and GAUZES, against the luxury of 
whose transparent tissues, the fathers of the church at that 
time so perseveringly fulminated their censures. The rest 
consist of muslins and China-crape of exquisite beauty. 
The components of the majority of these tissues are of goats' 
or camels' hair of exceeding delicacy and fineness. Like the 
manufactured stuffs of ancient Egypt, painted on the walls of 
its palaces and tombs, or substantially preserved amidst the 
envelopes of mummies, the designs are limited to four colors, 
which are in fact the four sacred ones of China, India, 
Egypt, and the Hebrew Tabernacle. Nevertheless, the 
Egyptian designs, identical with those of India, are many 
of them of exquisite beauty. The consummate skill of the 
silk and cotton manufacturers of ancient Egypt, 4000 years 
ago, the beauty and richness of their fabrics — the little alter- 
ation which has taken place in the economy or machinery of 
the factories, as well as in their product, has been recently dem- 
onstrated in the great work of Champollion. All the details 
of the silk and cotton factories of Egypt, under the Pharaohs 
of the 18th dynasty (which then monopolized the commerce 
of the world, and sent a colony of weavers, from the overbur- 
thened population of Lower Egypt, to found Athens, and the 
subsequent civilization of Europe), are laid open with vivid ac- 
curacy in that splendid work*, and brought with all their start- 
ling analogies before the eye of the modern reader by drawings 
from the temples, palaces, and tombs which it contains. It 
proves, indeed, that there is " nothing new under the sun. v 

That the Egyptians excelled in science and art is evident 
from their monuments, paintings, and sculptures, whereon they 
are depicted. It is also proved by Scripture, which speaks of 
the " wisdom of Egypt" with reference to art ; and from the 
fact that Egypt .was deemed by other nations the fountain of 
arts and sciences, and that their philosophers were wont to re- 

* See Plate II. 



96 SILVER TEXTURES, ETC., OP THE ANCIENTS. 

sort thither to collect some of the " droppings of Egyptian wis- 
dom." According to Diodorus, all trades vied with each other 
in improving their own particular branch, no pains being 
spared to bring each to perfection. To promote the more effec- 
tually this object, it was enacted that no artisan should follow 
any trade or employment but that denned by law, and pursued 
by his ancestors. No tradesman was permitted to meddle 
with political affairs, or hold any civil office in the state, lest 
his thoughts should be distracted by the inconsistency of his 
pursuits, or the jealousy and displeasure of the master in 
whose service he was employed. They foresaw that without 
such a law constant interruptions would take place, in conse- 
quence of the necessity or desire of becoming conspicuous in a 
public station ; that their proper occupations would be neglected, 
and many would be led by vanity and self-sufficiency to inter- 
fere in matters which were out of their sphere. They consid- 
ered, moreover, that to pursue more than one avocation would 
be detrimental to their own interests, and those of the commu- 
nity at large ; and that, when men, from a motive of avarice, 
engage in numerous branches of art, the general result is, that 
they are unable to excel in any. If any artisan interfered in 
political matters, or engaged in any employment other than the 
one to which he had been brought up, a severe punishment 
was immediately inflicted upon him. 

The eminent German hierologist, Dr. Lepsius, now employ- 
ed in Egypt by the Prussian government, after mentioning, in 
a recent letter, the many discoveries he had made of ancient 
ruins, tombs, &c., writes as follows : 

" With the exception of about twelve, which belong to a later 
period, all these tombs were erected contemporaneously with, or 
soon after, the building of the great pyramid, and consequently 
their dates throw an invaluable light on the study of human 
civilization in the most remote period of antiquity.— The sculp- 
tures in relief are surprisingly numerous, representing whole 
figures, some the size of life, and others of various dimensions. 
The paintings are on back grounds of the finest chalk. They 
are numerous and beautiful beyond conception — as fresh and 
perfect as if finished yesterday! The pictures and sculp- 



SILVER TEXTURES, ETC., OF THE ANCIENTS. 97 

tures on the walls of the tombs, represent, for the most part, 
scenes in the lives of the deceased persons, whose wealth in 
cattle, fish-boats, servants, &c, is ostentatiously displayed before 
the eye of the spectator. All this gives an insight into the de- 
tails of private life among the ancient Egyptians. By the help 
of these inscriptions I think I could, without difficulty, make a 
" Court Calendar" of the reign of King Cheops*. In some in- 
stances I have traced the graves of father, son, grandson, and 
even great-grandson — all that now remains of the distinguished 
families, which five thousand years ago, formed the nobility of 
the land." 



* We do not find in these researches, that the ancients were acquainted with 
the arts of spinning and weaving glass, or of giving it any required shade of color. 
This invention, therefore, must be considered as belonging to the nineteenth cen- 
tury, and the honor of the discovery is due to M. Dubus Bonnel, an ingenious 
Frenchman, a native of Lille, and for which he obtained patents in Great Brit- 
ain, and various countries of the European continent in 1837. 

" When we figure to ourselves an apartment decorated with cloth of glass, and 
resplendent with lights, we must be convinced that it will equal in brilliancy all 
that the imagination can conceive ; and realise, in a word, the wonders of the 
enchanted palaces mentioned in the Arabian tales. The lights flashing from the 
polished surface of the glass, to which any color or shade may be given, will 
make the room have the appearance of an apartment composed of pearls, mother- 
of-pearl, diamonds, garnets, sapphires, topazes, rubies, emeralds, or amethysts, 
&c, or, in short, of all those precious stones united and combined in a thousand 
ways, and formed into stars, rosettes, boquets, garlands, festoons, and graceful un- 
dulations, varied almost ad infinitum." — L'Echo du Monde Savant, &c. No. 58, 
Feb. 15, 1837. — Translated from the French. 

The warp is composed of silk, forming the body and groundwork on which 
the pattern in glass appears, as effected by the weft. The requisite flexibility of 
glass thread for manufacturing purposes is to be ascribed to its extreme fineness ; 
as not less than from fifty to sixty of the original threads (spun by steam engine 
power) are required to form one thread of the weft. The process is slow ; for no 
more than a yard of cloth can be produced in twelve hours. The work, however, 
is extremely beautiful and comparatively cheap, inasmuch as no similar stuff, 
where bullion is really introduced, can be purchased for anything like the price 
for which this is sold ; added to this, it is, as far as the glass is concerned, imper- 
ishable. Glass is more durable than either gold or silver, and, besides, possesses 
the advantage of never tarnishing. 

13 



CHAPTER VII. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM, &c. 

Preliminary observations — The silk-worm — Various changes of the silk-worm 
— Its superiority above other worms — Beautiful verses on the May-fly, illustra- 
tive of the shortness of human life — Transformations of the silk-worm — Its 
small desire oflocomotion — First sickness of the worm — Manner of casting its 
Exuviae — Sometimes cannot be fully accomplished — Consequent death of tho 
insect — Second, third, and fourth sickness of the worm — Its disgust for food — 
Material of which silk is formed — Mode of its secretion — Manner of unwinding 
the filaments — Floss-silk— Cocoon — Its imperviousness to moisture — Effect of 
the filaments breaking during the formation of the cocoon — Mr. Robinet's curi- 
ous calculation on the movements made by a silk-worm in the formation, of a 
cocoon — Cowper's beautiful lines on the silk-worm — Periods in which its vari- 
ous progressions are effected in different climates — Effects of sudden transitions 
from heat to cold — The worm's appetite sharpened by increased temperature — 
Shortens its existence — Various experiments in artificial heating — Modes of ar- 
tificial heating — Singular estimate of Count Dandolo — Astonishing increase of 
the worm — Its brief existence in the moth state — Formation of silk — The silken 
filament formed in the worm before its expulsion — Erroneous opinions enter- 
tained by writers on this subject — The silk-worm's Will. 

It can never be too strongly impressed upon a mind anxious 
for the acquisition of knowledge, that the commonest things by 
which we are surrounded are deserving of minute and careful 
attention. The most profound investigations of Philosophy are 
necessarily connected with the ordinary circumstances of our 
being, and of the world in which our every-day life is spent. 
With regard to our own existence, the pulsation of the heart, 
the act of respiration, the voluntary movement of our limbs, 
the condition of sleep, are among the most ordinary operations 
of our nature ; and yet how long were the wisest of men strug- 
gling with dark and bewildering speculations before they could 
offer anything like a satisfactory solution of these phenomena, 
and how far are we still from an accurate and complete know- 
ledge of them ! The science of Meteorology, which attempts 
to explain to us the philosophy of matters constantly before our 
eyes, as dew, mist, and rain, is dependent for its illustrations 
upon a knowledge of the most complicated facts, such as the 



DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM. 99 

influence of heat and electricity upon the air ; and this know- 
ledge is at present so imperfect, that even these common occur- 
rences of the weather, which men have been observing and 
reasoning upon for ages, are by no means satisfactorily explain- 
ed, or reduced to the precision that every science should aspire 
to. Yet, however difficult it may be entirely to comprehend 
the phenomena we daily witness, everything in nature is full 
of instruction. Thus the humblest flower of the field, although, 
to one whose curiosity has not been excited, and whose under- 
standing has, therefore, remained uninformed, it may appeal- 
worthless and contemptible, is valuable to the botanist, not 
only with regard to its place in the arrangement of this portion 
of the Creator's works, but as it leads his mind forward to the 
consideration of those beautiful provisions for the support of 
vegetable life, which it is the part of the physiologist to study 
and admire*. 

This train of reasoning is peculiarly applicable to the econo- 
my of insects. They constitute a very large and interesting 
part of the animal kingdom. They are everywhere about us. 
The spider weaves his curious web in our houses ; the cater- 
pillar constructs his silken cell in our gardens ; the wasp that 
hovers over our food has a nest not far removed from us, which 
she has assisted to build with the nicest art ; the beetle that 
crawls across our path is also an ingenious and laborious me- 
chanic, and has some curious instincts to exhibit to those who 
will feel an interest in watching his movements ; and the moth 
that eats into our clothes has something to plead for our pity, for 
he came, like us, naked into the world, and he has destroyed 
our garments, not in malice or wantonness, but that he may 
clothe himself with the same wool which we have stripped from 
the sheep. An observation of the habits of these little crea- 
tures is full of valuable lessons, which the abundance of the 
examples has no tendency to diminish. The more such obser- 
vations are multiplied, the more we are led forward to the fresh- 
est and the most delightful parts of knowledge ; the more do 



* " Insect Architecture," vol. i. p. 9. London : Charles Knight & Co., Lud- 
gate St. 1845. 



100 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

we learn to estimate rightly tlie extraordinary provisions and 
most abundant resources of a creative Providence ; and the bet- 
ter do we appreciate our own relations with all the infinite va- 
rieties of Nature, and our dependence, in common with the 
ephemeron that nutters its little hour in the summer sun, upon 
that Being in whose scheme of existence the humblest as well 
as the highest creature has its destined purposes. "If you 
speak of a stone" says St. Basil, " if you speak of a fly, a 
gnat, or a bee, your conversation will be a sort of demonstra- 
tion of his power whose hand formed them, for the wisdom of 
the workman is commonly perceived in that which is of little 
size. He who has stretched out the Heavens, and dug up the 
bottom of the sea, is also He who has pierced a passage through 
the sting of the bee for the ejection of its poison." 

If it be granted that making discoveries is one of the most 
satisfactory of human pleasures, then we may without hesita- 
tion affirm, that the study of insects is one of the most delight- 
ful branches of natural history, for it affords peculiar facilities 
for its pursuit. These facilities are found in the almost inex- 
haustible variety which insects present to the curious observer. 

There is, perhaps, no situation in which the lover of nature 
and the observer of animal life may not find opportunities for 
increasing his store of facts. It is told of a state prisoner un- 
der a cruel and rigorous despotism, that when he was excluded 
from all commerce with mankind, and was shut out from books, 
he took an interest and found consolation in the visits of a 
spider ; and there is no improbability in the story. The op- 
erations of that persecuted creature are among the most ex- 
traordinary exhibitions of mechanical ingenuity ; and a daily 
watching of the workings of its instinct would beget admira- 
tion in a rightly constituted mind. The poor prisoner had 
abundant leisure for the speculations in which the spider's web 
would enchain his understanding. We have all of us, at one 
period or other of our fives, been struck with some singular 
evidence of contrivance in the economy of insects, which we 
have seen with our own eyes. Want of leisure, and probably 
want of knowledge, have prevented us from following up the 
curiosity which for a moment was excited. And yet some such 



DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM. 101 

accident has made men Naturalists, in the highest meaning of 
the term. Bonnet, evidently speaking of himself, says, " I 
knew a naturalist, who, when he was seventeen years of age, 
having heard of the operations of the ant-lion, began by doubt- 
ing them. He had no rest till he had examined into them ; and 
he verified them, he admired them, he discovered new facts, and 
soon became the disciple and the friend of the Pliny of 
France*" (Reamur). It is not the happy fortune of many to 
be able to devote themselves exclusively to the study of nature, 
unquestionably the most fascinating of human employments ; 
but almost every one may acquire sufficient knowledge to be 
able to derive a high gratification from beholding the more com- 
mon operations of animal fife. His materials for contemplation 
are always before him. 

The silk-worm is a species of caterpillar which, like all other 
insects of the same class, undergoes a variety of changes during 
the short period of its life ; assuming, in each of three succes- 
sive transformations, a form wholly dissimilar to that vnth 
which it was -previously invested. 

Among the great variety of caterpillars, the descriptions of 
which are to be found in the records of natural history, the 
silk-worm occupies a place far above the rest. Not only is our 
attention called to the examination of its various transforma- 
tions, by the desire of satisfying our curiosity as entomologists, 
but our artificial wants incite us likewise to the study of its na- 
ture and habits, that we may best and most profitably apply its 
instinctive industry to our own advantage. 

It has been well observed by Pullein, a writer on this subject, 
that " there is scarcely anything among the various wonders 
which the animal creation affords, more admirable than the 
variety of changes which the silk- worm undergoes ;" but the 
curious texture of that silken covering with which it surrounds 
itself when it arrives at the perfection of its animal life, vastly 
surpasses what is made by other animals of this class. All the 
caterpillar kind do, indeed, pass through changes like those of 
the silk-worm, and the beauty of many in their butterfly state 

* Contemplation de la Nature, part ii. ch. 42. 



102 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

greatly exceeds it ; but the covering which they put on before 
this mutation is poor and mean, when compared to that golden 
tissue in which the silk-worm wraps itself. They, indeed, come 
forth in a variety of colors, their wings bedropped with gold 
and scarlet, yet are they but the beings of a summer's day ; 
both their life and beauty quickly vanish, and they leave no 
remembrance after them ; but the silk-worm leaves behind it 
such beautiful, such beneficial monuments, as at once to record 
both the wisdom of their Creator and his bounty to man." 

We may without impropriety, here introduce the following 
truly beautiful comparison of the shortness of human life, as 
well as in illustration of this part of our subject, as evidenced 
in the May-fly. 

" The angler's May-fly, the most short-lived in its perfect state of any of the 
insect race, emerges from the water, where it passes its aurelia state, about six 
in the evening, and dies about eleven at night." — White's Selborne. 

The sun of the eve was warm and bright 

When the May-fly burst his shell, 
And he wanton'd awhile in that fair light 

O'er the river's gentle swell ; 
And the deepening tints of the crimson sky 
Still gleam'd on the wing of the glad May-fly. 

The colors of sunset pass'd away, 

The crimson and yellow green, 
And the evening-star's first twinkling ray 

In the waveless stream was seen ; 
Till the deep repose of the stillest night 
Was hushing about his giddy flight. 

The noon of the night is nearly come — 

There's a crescent in the sky ; — 
The silence still hears the myriad hum 

Of the insect revelry. 
The hum has ceas'd — the quiet wave 
Is now the sportive Mayfly's grave. 

Oh ! thine was a blessed lot — to spring 

In thy lustihood to air, 
And sail about, on untiring wing, 

Through a world most rich and fair, 
To drop at once in thy watery bed, 
Like a leaf that the willow branch has shed. 



DESCRIPTION OP THE SILK-WORM. 103 

And who shall say that his thread of years 

Is a life more blest than thine ! 
Has his feverish dream of doubts and fears 

Such joys as those which shine 
In the constant pleasures of thy way, 
Most happy child of the happy May ? 

For thou wert born when the earth was clad 

With her robe of buds and flowers, 
And didst float about with a soul as glad 

As a bird in the sunny showers ; 
And the hour of Ihy death had a sweet repose, 
Like a melody, sweetest at its close. 

Nor too brief the date of thy cheerful race — 

'Tis its use that measures time — 
And the mighty Spirit that fills all space 

With His life and His will sublime, 
May see that the May-fly and the Man 
Each flutter out the same small span ; 

And the fly that is born with the sinking sun, 

To die ere the midnight hour, 
May have deeper joy, ere his course be run, 

Than man in his pride and power ; 
And the insect's minutes be spared the fears 
And the anxious doubts of our threescore years. 

The years and the minutes are as one — 

The fly drops in his twilight\iirth, 
And the man, when his long day's work is done, 

Crawls to the self-same earth. 
Great Father of each ! may our mortal day 
Be the prelude to an endless May* ! 



* " See," exclaims Linnaeus, " the large, elegant painted wings of the butterfly, 
four in number, covered with delicate feathery scales ! With these it sustains 
itself in the air a whole day, rivalling the flight of birds and the brilliancy of the 
peacock. Consider this insect through the wonderful progress of its life, — how 
different is the first period of its being from the second, and both from the parent 
insect ! Its changes are an inexplicable enigma to us : we see a green caterpil- 
lar, furnished with sixteen feet, feeding upon the leaves of a plant ; this is changed 
into a chrysalis, smooth, of golden lustre, hanging suspended to a fixed point, 
without feet, and subsisting without food ; this insect again undergoes another 
transformation, acquires wings, and six feet, and becomes a gay butterfly, sport- 
ing in the air, and living by suction upon the honey of plants. What has Nature 



104 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP SILK. 

Silk- worms proceed from eggs which are deposited during the 
summer by a grayish kind of moth, of the genus paleena. 
These eggs are about equal in size to a grain of mustard seed : 
their color when first laid is yellow ; but in three or four days 
after, they acquire a bluish cast. In temperate climates, and 
by using proper precautions, these eggs may be preserved du- 
ring the winter and spring, without risk of premature hatching. 
The period of their animation may be accelerated or retarded 
by artificial means, so as to agree with the time when the nat- 
ural food of the insect shall appear in ample abundance for its 
support. 

All the curious changes and labors which accompany and 
characterize the life of the silk-worm are performed within the 
space of a very few weeks. This period varies, indeed, accord- 
ing to the climate or temperature in which its life is passed ; all 
its vital functions being quickened, and their duration propor- 
tionally abridged, by warmth. With this sole variance, its pro- 
gressions are alike in all climates, and the same mutations ac- 
company its course. 

The three successive states of being put on by this insect 
are, that of the worm or caterpillar, of the chrysalis or aurelia, 
and moth. In addition to these more decided transformations, 
the progress of the silk-worm in its caterpillar state is marked 
by five distinct stages ot being. 

When first hatched, it appears as a small black worm about 



produced more worthy of our admiration than such an animal coming upon the 
stage of the world, and playing its part there under so many different masks?" 
The ancients were so struck with the transformations of the butterfly, and its re- 
vival from a seeming temporary death, as to have considered it an emblem of the 
soul, the Greek word psyche signifying both the soul and a butterfly ; and it is 
for this reason that we find the butterfly introduced into their allegorical sculp- 
tures as an emblem of immortality. Trifling, therefore, and perhaps contempti- 
ble, as to the unthinking may seem the study of a butterfly, yet when we consid- 
er the art and mechanism displayed in so minute a structure, — the fluids circu- 
lating in vessels so small as almost to escape the sight — the beauty of the wings 
and covering — and the manner in which each part is adapted for its peculiar 
functions, — we cannot but be struck with wonder and admiration, and allow, 
with Paley, that " the production of beauty was as much in the Creator's mind in 
painting a butterfly as in giving symmetry to the human form." 



DESCRIPTION OP THE SILK-WORM. 105 

a quarter of an inch in length. Its first indication of anima- 
tion is the desire which it evinces for obtaining food, in search of 
which, if not immediately supplied, it will exhibit more power 
of locomotion than characterizes it at any other period. So 
small is the desire of change on the part of these insects, that 
of the generality it may be said, their own spontaneous will 
seldom leads them to travel over a greater space than three 
feet throughout the whole duration of their lives. Even when 
hungry, the worm still clings to the skeleton of the leaf from 
which its nourishment was last derived. If, by the continued 
cravings of its appetite, it should be at length incited to the ef- 
fort necessary for changing its position, it will sometimes wan- 
der as far as the edge of the tray wherein it is confined, and 
some few have been found sufficiently adventurous to cling to 
its rim ; but the smell of fresh leaves will instantly allure them 
back. It would add incalculably to the labors and cares of 
their attendants, if silk-worms were endowed with a more ram- 
bling disposition. So useful is this peculiarity of their nature, 
that one is irresistibly tempted to consider it the result of design, 
and a part of that beautiful system of the fitness of things, 
which the student of natural history has so many opportunities 
of contemplating with delight and admiration. 

In about eight days from its being hatched, its head becomes 
perceptibly larger, and the worm is attacked by its first sickness. 
This lasts for three days ; during which time it refuses food, 
and remains motionless as in a kind of lethargy. Some have 
thought this to be sleep, but the fatal termination which so 
frequently attends these sicknesses seems to afford a denial to this 
hypothesis. The silk-worm increases its size so considerably, 
and in so short a space of time, — its weight being multiplied 
many thousand fold in the course of one month, — that if only 
one skin had been assigned to it, which should serve for its 
whole caterpillar state, it would with difficulty have distended 
itself sufficiently to keep pace with the insect's growth. The 
economy of nature has therefore admirably provided the em- 
bryos of other skins, destined to be successively called into use ; 
and this sickness of the worm, and its disinclination for food, 

14 



106 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

may very probably be occasioned by the pressure of the skin, 
now become too small for the body which it encases. 

At the end of the third day from its first refusal, of food, the 
animal appears, on that account, much wasted in its bodily 
frame ; a circumstance which materially assists in the painful 
operation of casting its skin : this it now proceeds to accomplish. 
To facilitate this moulting, a sort of humor is thrown off by the 
worm, which, spreading between its body and the skin about to 
be abandoned, lubricates their surfaces, and causes them to 
separate the more readily. The insect also emits from its body 
silken traces, which, adhering to the spot where it rests, serves 
to confine the skin to its then existing position. These prelim- 
inary steps seem to call for some considerable exertion, as after 
them the worm remains quiet for a short space of time, to re- 
cover from its fatigue. It then proceeds, by rubbing its head 
among the leafy fibres surrounding it, to disencumber itself of 
the scaly covering. Its next effort is to break through the skin 
nearest to the head, which, as it is there the smallest, calls for the 
greatest exertion ; and no sooner is this accomplished and the 
two front legs are disengaged, than the remainder of the body 
is quickly drawn forth, the skin being still fastened to the spot 
in the manner already described. 

This moulting is so complete, that not only is the whole 
covering of the body cast off, but that of the feet, the entire 
skull, and even the jaws, including the teeth. These several 
parts may be discerned by the unassisted eye ; but become very 
apparent when viewed through a magnifying lens of moderate 
power. 

In two or three minutes from the beginning of its efforts the 
worm is wholly freed, and again puts on the appearance of 
health and vigor ; feeding with recruited appetite upon its leafy 
banquet. It sometimes happens that the outer skin refuses to 
detach itself wholly, but breaks and leaves an annular portion 
adhering to the extremity of its body, from which all the strug- 
gles of the insect cannot wholly disengage it. The pressure 
thus occasioned induces swelling and inflammation in other 
parts of the body ; and, after efforts of greater or less duration, 
death generally terminates its sufferings. 



DESCRIPTION OP THE SILK-WORM. 107 

Worms newly freed from their exuviae are easily distinguished 
from others by the pale color and wrinkled appearance of their 
new skin. This latter quality, however, soon disappears, 
through the repletion and growth of the insect, which continues 
to feed during five days. At this time its length will be in- 
creased to half an inch ; when it is attacked by a second sick- 
ness, followed by a second moulting, the manner of performing 
which is exactly similar to the former. Its appetite then again 
returns, and is indulged during other five days, in the course of 
which time its length increases to three quarters of an inch : it 
then undergoes its third sickness and moulting. These being 
past in all respects like the former, and five more days of feed- 
ing having followed, it is seized by its fourth sickness, and casts 
its skin for the last time in the caterpillar state. The worm is 
now about one and a half or two inches long. This last change 
being finished, the worm devours its food most voraciously, and 
increases rapidly in size during ten days. 

The silk-worm has now attained to its full growth, and is a 
slender caterpillar from two and a half to three inches in length 
(See Figure 1. Plate III.). The peculiarities of its structure 
may be better examined now than in its earlier stages. It can 
readily be seen that the worm has twelve membranous rings 
round its body, parallel to each other ; and which, answering to 
the movements of the animal, mutually contract and elongate. 
It has sixteen legs, in pairs : six in front, which are covered 
with a sort of shell or scale, and are placed under the three first 
rings, and cannot be either sensibly lengthened, or their position 
altered. The other ten legs are called holders : these are mem- 
branous, flexible, and attached to the body under the rings, be- 
ing furnished with little hooks, which assist the insect in 
climbing. The skull is inclosed in a scaly substance, similar to 
the covering of the first six legs. The jaws are indented or 
serrated like the teeth of a saw, and their strength is great con- 
sidering the size of the insect. Its mouth is peculiar, having a 
vertical instead of an horizontal aperture ; and the worm is fur- 
nished with eighteen breathing holes, placed at equal distances 
down the body, nine on each side. Each of these holes is sup- 
posed to be the termination of a particular organ of respiration. 



108 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

On either side of the head, near to the mouth, seven small eyes 
may be discerned. The two broad appearances higher upon 
the head, which are frequently mistaken for eyes, are bones of 
the skull. The two apertures through which the worm draws 
its silken filament are placed just beneath the jaw, and close to 
eaoh other ; these being exceedingly minute. 

At the period above-mentioned the desire of the worm for 
food begins to abate : the first symptom of this is the appear- 
ance of the leaves nibbled into small portions and wasted. It 
soon after entirely ceases even to touch the leaves ; appears 
restless and uneasy ; erects it head ; and moves about from side 
to side, with a circular motion, in quest of a place wherein it 
can commence its labor of spinning. Its color is now light 
green, with some mixture of a darker hue. In twenty-four 
hours from the time of its abstaining from food, the material 
for forming its silk will be digested in its reservoirs ; its green 
color will disappear ; its body will have acquired a degree of 
glossiness, and have become partially transparent towards its 
neck. Before the worm is quite prepared to spin, its body will 
have acquired greater firmness, and be in a trifling measure 
lessened in size. 

" The substance," says Mr. Porter, " of which the silk is 
composed, is secreted in the form of a fine yellow transparent 
gum in two separate vessels of slender dimensions, wound, 
as it were, on two spindles in the stomach ; and if unfolded, 
these vessels would be about ten inches in length*." This 
statement is proved to be erroneous, as the reader will perceive, 
at the conclusion of this chapter. 

When the worm has fixed upon some angle, or hollow place, 
whose dimensions agree with the size of its intended silken 
ball or cocoon, it begins its labor by throwing forth thin and ir- 
regular threads, see Figure 2. Plate III., which are intended to 
support its future dwelling. 

During the first day, the insect forms upon these a loose 
structure of an oval shape, which is called floss silk, and within 
which covering, in the three following days, it forms the firm 

* Porter's " Treatise on the Silk Manufacture," p. 111. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM. 109 

and consistent yellow ball ; the laborer, of course, always re- 
maining on the inside of the sphere which it is forming*. 

The silken filament, which when drawn out appears to be 
one thread, is composed of two fibres, unwound through the 
two orifices before described ; and these fibres are brought to- 
gether by means of two hooks, placed within the silk-worm's 
mouth for the purpose. The worm rests on its lower extremity 
throughout the unwinding operation, and employs its mouth 
and front legs in the task of directing and uniting the two fila- 
ments. The filament is not wound in regular concentric circles 
round the interior surface, of the ball, but in spots, going back- 
wards and forwards with a sort of wavy motion. This appa- 
rently irregular manner of proceeding is plainly perceptible 
when the silk is being reeled off the ball ; which does not make 
more than one or two entire revolutions while ten or twelve 
yards of silk are being transferred to the reelf . 

At the end of the third or fourth day, the worm will have 
completed its task ; and we have then a silk cocoon (See Fig- 
ure 3. plate III.), with the worm imprisoned in its centre ; the 



* If at this time any of the threads intended for the support of the cocoon 
should be broken, the worm will find, in the progress of its work, that the ball, 
not being properly poised, becomes unsteady, so that the insect is unable properly 
to go forward with its labors. Under these circumstances the worm pierces and 
altogether quits the unfinished cocoon, and throws out its remaining threads at 
random wherever it passes ; by which means the silk is wholly lost, and the 
worm, finding no place wherein to prepare for its change, dies without having 
effected it. It may sometimes happen, but such a thing is of unfrequent occur- 
rence, that the preparatory threads before mentioned are broken by another 
worm working in the neighborhood, when the same unsatisfactory result will be 
experienced. — Obs. on the Culture of Silk, by A. Stephenson. 

t Mr. Robinet, of Paris, made the following curious calculation on the move- 
ments a silk -worm must make in forming a cocoon supposed to contain a thread 
of 1500 metres. It is known, says Mr. Robinet, that the silk-worm, in forming 
his cocoon, does not spin the silken filament in concentric circles round the inte- 
rior surface of the ball, but in a zigzag manner. This it effects by the motions of 
its head. Now if each one of these motions gives half a centimetre of the silken 
filament ; it follows that the worm must make 300,000 motions of its head to 
form it ; and if the labor requires 72 hours in the performance, the creature 
makes 100,000 motions every 24 hours, 4,166 per hour, 69 per minute, and a lit- 
tle more than one in a second ! 



110 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

cocoon being from an inch to an inch and a half long, and of a 
yellow or orange color. 

When the insect has finished its labor of unwinding, it 
smears the entire internal surface of the cocoon with a pecu- 
liar kind of gum, very similar in its nature to the matter which 
forms the silk itself ; and this is no doubt designed as a shield 
against rain or the humidity of the atmosphere, for the chrysa- 
lis in its natural state ; when of course it would be subject to 
all varieties of weather. The silken filament of which the 
ball is made up, is likewise accompanied, throughout its entire 
length, by a portion of gum, which serves to give firmness and 
consistency to its texture ; and assists in rendering the dwell- 
ing of the chrysalis impervious to moisture. This office it per- 
forms so well, that when, for the purpose of reeling the silk 
with greater facility, the balls are thrown into basins of hot 
water, they swim on the top with all the buoyancy of blad- 
ders ; nor, unless the ball be imperfectly formed, does the water 
penetrate within until the silk is nearly all unwound. In fig- 
ure 4, plate III., the cocoons are drawn two-thirds of the usual 
size, and are shown with part of the outward floss silk re- 
moved. 

The continual emission of the silken material during the 
formation of its envelope, together with its natural evaporation, 
uncompensated by food, causes the worm gradually to contract 
in bulk ; it becomes wrinkled, and the rings of its body ap- 
proach nearer to each other and appear more decidedly marked. 
When the ball is finished, the insect rests awhile from its toil, 
and then throws off its caterpillar garb. If the cocoon be now 
opened, its inhabitant will appear in the form of a chrysalis or 
aurelia, in shape somewhat resembling a kidney-bean (See Fig- 
ure 5. plate III.), but pointed at one end, having a smooth brown 
skin. Its former covering, so dissimilar to the one now assumed, 
will be found lying beside it. 

The account which has been given of the progressions of the 
silk-worm shows, that, in its various modifications, the animal 
organization of the insect has been always tending towards 
its simplification. Count Dandolo, writing upon this subject, 
observes, " Thus the caterpillar is in the first instance composed 



DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM. Ill 

of animal, silky, and excremental particles ; this forms the state 
of the growing caterpillar : in the next stage it is composed 
of animal and silky particles ; it is then the mature caterpil- 
lar : and lastly, it is reduced to the animal particles alone ; and 
is termed in this state the chrysalis. The poet Cowper, in 
the following lines, beautifully illustrates this subject : 

The beams of April, ere it goes, 

A worm, scarce visible, disclose ; 

All winter long content to dwell 

The tenant of his native shell. 

The same prolific season gives 

The sustenance by which he lives, 

The mulberry leaf, a simple store, 

That serves him — till he needs no more ! 

For, his dimensions once complete, 

Thenceforth none ever sees him eat ; 

Though till his growing time be past 

Scarce ever is he seen to fast. 

That hour arrived, his work begins. 

He spins and weaves, and weaves and spins ; 

Till circle upon circle, wound 

Careless around him and around, 

Conceals him with a veil though slight, 

Impervious to the keenest sight. 

Thus self-inclosed, as in a cask, 

At length he finishes his task : 

And, though a worm when he was lost, 

Or caterpillar at the most, 

When next we see him, wings he wears, 

And in papilio pomp appears ; 

Becomes oviparous ; supplies * 

With future worms and future flies 

The next ensuing year — and dies ! 

Well were it for the world if all 

Who creep about this earthly ball, 

Though shorter -lived than most he be, 

Were useful in their kind as he. 

It has been already noticed that the progressions of the in- 
sects are accelerated by an increase of temperature ; and some 
variation will equally be experienced where different modes of 
treatment are followed ; and, in particular, where different 
periods of the year are chosen in which to produce and rear the 
worm. Malpighius, in his " Anatomy of the Silk-worm." says, 



112 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

that worms which he hatched in May were eleven days old ere 
they were attacked by their first sickness ; others hatched m 
July were ten days, and those brought forth in August nine days, 
before they refused their food, preparatory to their first moulting. 
Eight days appear to be the most usual term for their first at- 
tack ; and by his judicious treatment count Dandolo shortened 
even this term by two days. In Europe, except where recourse 
is had to artificial aid, the term of the caterpillar state is usually 
that which has been already mentioned. 

Sudden transitions from cold to heat, or vice versa, are highly 
injurious to the silk-worm ; but it can bear a very high degree 
of heat, if uniformly maintained, without sustaining injury. 
Count Dandolo observed, that " the greater the degree of heat 
in which it is reared, the more acute are its wants, the more 
rapid its pleasures, and the shorter its existence." Monsieur 
Boissier de Sauvagues made many experiments on this point. 
One year, when by the early appearance of the mulberry 
leaves, which were developed by the end of April, he was 
forced to hurry forward the operations of his filature, he raised 
the heat of the apartment in which the newly-hatched worms 
were placed to 100° ; gradually diminishing this during their 
first and second ages to 95°. In consequence of the animal ex- 
citement thus induced, there elapsed only nine days between 
the hatching and the second moulting inclusively. It was the 
general opinion of those cultivators who witnessed the exper- 
iment, that the insects would not be able to exist in so intensely 
heated an atmosphere. The walls of the apartment, and the 
wicker hurdles on which the worms were placed, could scarcely 
be touched from the great heat, and yet all the changes and 
progressions went forward perfectly well, and a most abundant 
crop of silk was the result. 

The same gentleman, on a subsequent occasion, exposed his 
brood to the temperature of 93° to 95° during their first age ; 
of 89° to 91° in the second age ; and remarked that the at- 
tendant circumstances were the same as in his former experi- 
ment, the changes of the worm being performed ia the same 
space of time ; whence he came to the conclusion, that it is not 
practicable to accelerate their progress beyond a certain point 



DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM. 113 

by any superadditions of heat. In both of these experiments 
the quantity of food consumed, was as great as is usually given 
during the longer period employed in the common manner of 
rearing. After the second moulting had taken place in the 
last experiment, the temperature was lowered to 82° ; and it is 
remarkable that the worms occupied only five days in comple- 
ting their third and fourth changes, although others which had 
been accustomed to this lower degree from their birth occupied 
seven or eight days for each of these moul tings. It would there- 
fore seem that the constitution of the insects can be affected, 
and an impetus given to their functions at the period of their 
first animation, which accompanies them through their after 
stages. So far from this forcing system proving injurious to the 
health of silk-worms, M. de Sauvagues found that his broods 
were unusually healthy ; and that while the labors of cultiva- 
tion were abridged in their duration, much of the attendant 
anxiety was removed. 

Like other caterpillars, the silk-worm is not a warm-blooded 
animal, and its temperature is therefore always equal to that of 
the atmosphere in which it is placed. In the silk-producing 
countries, where modes of artificial heating have not been 
studied practically and scientifically, the difficulty and expense 
that must attend the prosecution of this heating system, form 
abundant reasons why it cannot be generally adopted. The 
great susceptibility of the insect to atmospheric influences 
would also in a great degree render unsuitable the more com- 
mon arrangements for the purpose. The plan of warming 
apartments by means of stoves, in its passage through which 
the air becomes highly heated before it mixes with and raises 
the general temperature of the air in the chamber, is liable to 
this inconvenience, — that the portion so introduced, having its 
vital property impaired by the burning heat through which it 
has passed, injures, proportionably, the respirable quality of the 
whole atmosphere ; an effect which is easily perceptible by 
those who inhale it. A better plan of heating has lately been 
suggested, and is rapidly coming into practice, viz., of warming 
buildings by a current of hot water (an American invention), 
which is, by a very simple process, kept constantly flowing in 

15 



114 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

close channels through the apartment, where it continually 
gives off its heat by radiation ; and the degree of this being 
far below the point which is injurious to the vital quality of 
air, the evil before alluded to is avoided. If the expense of fuel 
be not too great, as compared with that of the labor which 
would be saved by this invention, the adoption in silk countries 
of such a mode of raising and regulating the temperature 
might, probably, prove advantageous. 

The silk-worm remains in the form of a chrysalis for periods 
which, according to the climate or the temperature wherein it 
maybe placed, vary from fifteen to thirty days. In India, the 
time is much shorter (See Chapter YIII.) ; in Spain and Italy, 
eighteen to twenty days. In France three weeks ; and in the 
climate of England, when unaccelerated by artificial means, 
thirty days will elapse from the time the insect begins to spin 
until it emerges in its last and perfect form. It then throws Off 
the shroud which had confined it in seeming lifeless?iess, and 
appears as a large moth of a grayish-white color, furnished with 
four wings, two eyes, and two black horns or antlers which 
present a feathery appearance (See Figure 6. plate III.). 

If left until this period within the cocoon, the moth takes 
immediate measures for its extrication : ejecting from its mouth 
a liquor with which it moistens and lessens the adhesiveness 
of the gum wherewith it had lined the interior surface of its 
dwelling, and the insect is enabled, by frequent motions of its 
head, to loosen, without breaking, the texture of the ball ; then 
using its hooked feet, it pushes aside the filaments and makes 
a passage for itself into light and freedom. It is erroneously 
said that the moth recovers its liberty by gnawing the silken 
threads ; but it is found, on the contrary, that if carefully un- 
wound, their continuity is by this means rarely broken. 

One of the most remarkable circumstances connected with 
the natural history of silk-worms, is the degree in which their 
bulk and weight is increased, and the limited time wherein 
that increase is attained. Count Dandolo, who appears to 
have neglected nothing that could tend to the right under- 
standing of the subject, and to the consequent improvement 
of the processes employed, had patience enough to count and 



DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM. 115 

weigh many hundred thousand eggs, as well as follow out to 
the ultimate result his inquiries respecting their produce. He 
found that on an average sixty-eight sound silk-worm's eggs 
weighed one grain. One ounce*, therefore, comprised, 39,168 
eggs. But one twelfth part of this weight evaporates previous 
to hatching, and the shells are equal to one fifth more. If, 
therefore, from one ounce, composed of 576 grains, 48 grains be 
deducted for evaporation, and 115 for the shells, 413 grains 
will remain equal to the weight of 39,168 young worms ; and, 
at this rate, 54,526 of the insects when newly hatched, are 
required to make up the ounce. After the first casting of the 
skin, 3840 worms are found to have this weight, so that the 
bulk and weight of the insects have in a few days been multi- 
plied more than fourteen times. After the second change 610 
worms weigh an ounce, their weight being increased in the in- 
termediate time six fold. In the week passed between the sec- 
ond and third ages, the number of insects required to make up 
the same weight, decreases from 610 to 144, their weight be- 
ing therefore more than quadrupled. During the fourth age, 
a similar rate of increase is maintained : thirty-five worms now 
weigh an ounce. The fifth age of the caterpillar comprises 
nearly a third part of its brief existence, and has been describ- 
ed, by an enthusiastic writer on the subject, as the happiest 
period of its life, during which it rapidly increases in size, pre- 
paring and secreting the material it is about to spin. When 
the silk-worms are fully grown, and have arrived at their period 
of finally rejecting food, six of them make up the weight of 
an ounce. They have, therefore, since their last change, again 
added to their weight sixfold. 

It is thus seen that, in a few short weeks, the insect has 
multiplied its weight more than nine thousandfold ! From 
this period, and during the whole of its two succeeding states 
of being, the worm imbibes no nourishment, and gradually di- 
minishes in weight ; being supported by its own substance, and 



* This ounce contains 576 grains ; 8.5325 of these grains equal seven grains 
troy. One ounce avoirdupoise is therefore equal to about 533 grains, and between 
11-12 and 11-13 ounce avoirdupoise equals one of the above ounces. 



116 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

appearing to find sufficient occupation in forming its silken web, 
and providing successors for our service, without indulging that 
grosser appetite which forms the beginning and the end of their 
desires during their caterpillar existence. 

The moth enjoys its liberty for only a very brief space. Its 
first employment is to seek its mate ; after which the female 
deposits her eggs ; and both in the course of two or three days 
after, end their being. 

Formation of Silk. By M. H. Straus, of Durckheim. — " It 
is generally admitted by naturalists that the thread of the 
caterpillar is produced by a simple emission of liquid matter 
through the orifice of the spinner, and that it acquires solidity 
at once from the drying influence of the air. It was easy to 
entertain such an hypothesis, for nothing is more simple than 
the formation of a very fine thread by such a process. But a 
little reflection will soon show us, even a priori, that it is not 
possible ; for how can we comprehend that so fine a fibre, liquid 
at the instant of its issue from the aperture, should instantly 
acquire such a consistence as to bear the weight of the animal 
suspended by it, and at the same time that it is rapidly pro- 
duced ? Though the fluid, holding the silk in solution, should 
be quickly volatilised, it must still be a matter of conjecture, 
how the animal suspended by this thread could be able to ar- 
rest its issue, holding on only by the thread itself, for it cannot 
pinch the thread, seeing that it is only in a liquid state inside, 
and the thread cannot be glued to the edge of the opening, as 
its rapid adhesion would prevent its issue while the animal is 
spinning. A little examination would satisfy us that silk can- 
not be produced in this manner, but that it is secreted in the 
form of silk in the silk vessels, and that the spinning appara- 
tus only winds it. The thread is produced in the slender pos- 
terior part of the vessel, the inflated portion of which consists 
of the reservoir of ready formed silk, where it is found in the 
form of a skein ; each thread being rolled up so as to occupy 
in the silk-worm [Bombex mori) a space of only about a sixth 
part of the real length of the skein. The fact is shown by the 
following experiment I made for the purpose of ascertaining 
whether the silk is formed in the body of the caterpillars. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE SILK-WORM. 117 

' Take one of the animals when about to form its cocoon, 
clean it in common vinegar, in which it may remain from 
four to six hours, open it on the back and extract the silk 
vessels, there being- one on each side of the alimentary canal. 
Take them up by the hinder end, just where they begin to 
swell (further back the silk is not solid enough), and draw 
them out. The membrane forming the vessel is easily torn 
open, and the contents expand to six or seven times its orig- 
inal length. The skein having attained its full length by 
the letting out of its gathers, we obtain a cord perfectly equal 
in size throughout, except at the end, where it is attenuated. 
This cord resembles a large horse-hair, and constitutes what 
fishermen call " Florence hair? I ought to add that in simply 
drawing out the silk vessel, the Florence hair is found envel- 
oped in a golden yellow gummy matter, forming the glutinous 
portion by which the worm fastens its thread. This must be 
got rid of by drawing the cord through the fold formed on the 
inside of the joint of the left fore finger, converted into a canal 
by applying to it the end of the thumb. The glutinous sub- 
stance and the membranes being thus separated, we have the 
naked hair. In this state, before the silk becomes dry and 
hard, not only will it be indefinitely divided longitudinally, 
which proves its fibrous structure, but in trying to split it by 
drawing it transversely, the little filaments of silk which form 
it are perfectly separated, making a bundle of extremely fine 
fibrils? 

We cannot better conclude this interesting portion of our 
subject, than by quoting the following beautiful lines by Miss 
H. F. Gould :— 

THE SILK-WORM'S WILL. 

On a plain rush hurdle a silk -worm lay, 
When a proud young princess came that way : 
The haughty child of a human king, 
Threw a sidelong glance at the humble thing, 
That took, with a silent gratitude, 
From the mulberry leaf, her simple food ; 
And shrunk, half scorn and half disgust, 
Away from her sister child of dust — 



118 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP SILK. 

Declaring she never yet could see 

Why a reptile form like this should be, 

And that she was not made with nerves so firm, 

As calmly to stand by a " crawling worm !" 

With mute forbearance the silk-worm took 
The taunting words, and the spurning look : 
Alike a stranger to self and pride, 
She'd no disquiet from aught beside — 
And lived of a meekness and peace possessed, 
Which these debar from the human breast. 
She only wished, for the harsh abuse, 
To find some way to become of use 
To the haughty daughter of lordly man ; 
And thus did she lay a noble plan, 
To teach her wisdom, and make rrplain, 
That the humble worm was not made in vain ; 
A plan so generous, deep and high, 
That, to carry it out, she must even die ! 

" No more," said she, " will I drink or eat t 
I'll spin and weave me a winding-sheet, 
To wrap me up from the sun's clear light, 
And hide my form from her wounded sight. 
In secret then, till my end draws nigh, 
I'll toil for her ; and when I die, 
I'll leave behind, as a farewell boon, 
To the proud young princess, my whole cocoon, 
To be reeled and wove to a shining lace, 
And hung in a veil o'er her scornful face ! 
And when she can calmly draw her breath 
Through the very threads that have caused my death ; 

When she finds, at length, she has nerves so firm 
As to wear the shroud of a crawling worm, 
May she bear in mind, that she walks with pride 
In the winding-sheet where the silk-worm died V* 



FlatelU 













SiBc-"WbTm. Cocoons, Chrysalis, Moths, and P'mna. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHINESE MODE 
OP REARING SILK-WORMS, &c. 

Great antiquity of the silk-manufacture in China — Time and mode of pruning the 
Mulberry-tree — Not allowed to exceed a certain height — Mode of planting — 
Situation of rearing-rooms, and their construction — Effect of noise on the silk- 
worm — Precautions observed in preserving cleanliness — Isan-mon, mother of 
the worms — Manner of feeding — Space allotted to the worms — Destruction of 
the Chrysalides — Great skill of the Chinese in weaving — American writers on the 
Mulberry-tree — Silk-worms sometimes reared on trees — (M. Marteloy's ex- 
periments in 1764, in rearing silk-worms on trees in France) — Produce inferior 
to that of worms reared in houses — Mode of delaying the hatching of the eggs 
— Method of hatching — Necessity for preventing damp — Number of meals — 
Mode of stimulating the appetite of the worms — Effect of this upon the quan- 
tity of silk produced — Darkness injurious to the silk-worm — Its effect on the 
Mulberry -leaves — Mode of preparing the cocoons for the reeling process — Wild 
eilk- worms of India — Mode of hatching, &c. — (Observations on the cultivation 
of silk by Dr. Stebbins — Dr. Bowring's admirable illustration of the mutual de- 
pendence of the arts upon each other.) 

In China, the tradition of the silk culture is, as already- 
shown, carried back into the mythological periods, and dates 
with the origin of agriculture itself. These two pursuits or 
avocations, namely, husbandry and the silk-manufacture, form 
the subject of one of the sixteen discourses to the people. It 
is there observed, that " from ancient times the Son of Heaven 
directed the plough : the Empress planted the mulberry-tree. 
Thus have these exalted personages, not above the practice of 
labor and exertion, set an example to all men, with a view to 
leading the millions of their subjects to attend to their essential 
interests." 

In the work published by Imperial authority, entitled " Illus- 
trations of Husbandry and Weaving*," there are numerous 



* The drawing, plate I. (Frontispiece) is a faithful copy of a loom represented 
in this curious work. For this representation of a Chinese weaving engine, as 
well as several translations, explanatory of the silk-manufacture, &c, we are in- 



120 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

wood-cuts, accompanied by letter-press explanatory of the dif- 
ferent processes of farming and the silk-manufacture. The 
former head is confined to the production of rice, the staple ar- 
ticle of food, and proceeds from the ploughing of the land to 
the packing of the grain ; the latter details all the operations 
connected with planting the mulberry and gathering its leaves, 
up to the final weaving of the silk. 

The mulberry-tree is chiefly cultivated in Che-kiang, which 
province, together with the only three others that produce fine 
silk, namely, Kiang-nan, Woo-pe, and Sze-chuen, is crossed by 
the thirtieth parallel of latitude. Che-kiang is a country 
highly alluvial, intersected by numerous rivers and canals, with 
a climate that corresponds pretty nearly to the same latitude as 
that in the United States of America. The soil is manured 
with mud, dug from the rivers, assisted with ashes or dung; 
and the spaces between the trees are generally filled with mil- 
let, pulse, or other articles of food. The time for pruning the 
young trees, so as to produce fine leafy shoots, is at the com- 
mencement of the year. About four eyes are left on every 
shoot, and care is taken that the branches be properly thinned, 
with a view to giving plenty of light and air to the leaves. In 
gathering these, they make use of steps, as the young trees 
could not support a ladder, and would besides be injured in their 
branches by the use of one. The trees, with their foliage, are 
carefully watched, and the mischiefs of insects prevented by 
the use of various applications, among which are some essen- 
tial oils. 

The young trees of course suffer by being stripped of their 
leaves, which are the lungs of plants, and this is an additional 
reason for renewing them after a certain time. They endeav- 
or in part to counteract the evil effect, by pruning and lop- 
ping the tree, so as to diminish the wood when the leaves have 



debted to Walter Lowry, Esq., Sec. to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Mis- 
sions in this city ; who kindly permitted us to copy it from the original plate, 
forming a part of the interesting work above referred to, which is composed of 
seventy-five volumes, and was, as we understand, presented to the Board by a 
New York merchant. Many of the illustrations are extremely beautiful, reflect- 
ing the highest credit upon the artisans of the " Celestial Empire." 



CHINESE MODE OF REARING SILK-WORMS, ETC. 121 

been gathered. It is surprising, however, to observe how soon 
a tree in those climates will recover its leaves in the summer or 
autumn, after having been entirely stripped of them by a ty- 
phoon or hurricane. Fresh plants are procured by cuttings or 
layers, and sometimes from seed. When the trees grow too 
old for the production of the finest leaves, and show a greater 
tendency to fruiting, they are either removed or so cut and 
managed as to produce young branches. 

The principal object, in the cultivation of the mulberry, is to 
produce the greatest quantity of young and healthy leaves 
without fruit. For this reason the trees are not allowed to ex- 
ceed a certain age and height. They are planted on the plan 
of a quincunx*, and said to be in perfection in about three 
years. 

Mr. Barrow, who observed the management of the trees and 
silk-worms in Che-kiang, confirms the usual Chinese accounts, 
by saying that " the houses in which the worms are reared are 
placed generally in the centre of each plantation, in order that 
they may be removed as far as possible from every kind of 
noise ; experience having taught them that a sudden shout, or 
the bark of a dog, is destructive of the young worms. A 
whole brood has sometimes perished from the effects of a thun- 
der-storm." 

Some notion of the extent of the care required in the man- 
agement of the worms may be formed from the following ex- 
tract, taken from the Chinese work referred to at the beginning 
of this chapter. 

" The place where their habitation is built must be retired, 
free from noise, smells, and disturbances of every kind. The 
least fright, makes great impressions on these sensitive crea- 
tures ; even the barking of dogs, &c, is capable of throwing 
them into the utmost disorder. 

For the purpose of paying them every attention an affection- 
ate mother is provided, who is careful to supply their wants ; 

* In gardening, the quincunx order is a plantation of trees disposed in a 
square, consisting of five trees, one at each corner and a fifth in the centre, which 
order repeated indefinitely, forms a regular grove or wood, viewed by an angle of 
the square or parallelogram, presents equal or parallel alleys. 

16 



122 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP SILK. 

she is called Isan-mon, ' mother of the worms.' She takes 
possession of the chamber, but not before she has washed her- 
self and put on clean clothes, which have not the least repul- 
sive smell ; she must not have eaten anything immediately be- 
fore, or handled any wild succory, the smell of which is very 
prejudicial. She must be clothed in a plain habit, without any 
lining, that she may be more sensible of the warmth of the 
place, and accordingly increase or lessen the fire. She must 
also carefully avoid making a smoke or raising a dust, which 
would also be offensive." 

Silk-worms require to be carefully humored before the time 
of casting their slough. Every day is to them a year, having 
in a manner, the four seasons ; the morning being the Spring ; 
the middle of the day : Summer ; the evening : Autumn ; and 
the night, Winter. 

The chambers are so contrived as to admit of the use of ar- 
tificial heat when necessary. Great care is taken of the sheets 
of paper on which the eggs have been laid ; and the hatching 
is either retarded or advanced, by the application of cold or heat 
according to circumstances, so as to time the simultaneous exit 
of the young worms exactly to the period when the tender 
spring-leaves of the mulberry are most fit for their nourishment. 

They proportion the food very exactly to the young worms 
by weighing the leaves, which in the first instance are cut, but 
as the insects become larger, are given to them whole. The 
greatest precautions being observed in regulating the tempera- 
ture of the apartments. The worms are fed upon a species of 
small hurdles of basket-work, strewed with leaves, which are 
constantly shifted for the sake of cleanliness, the insects readily 
moving off to a fresh hurdle with new leaves, as the scent at- 
tracts them. In proportion to their growth, room is afforded to 
them by increasing the number of these hurdles, the worms of 
one being shifted to three, then to six, and so on until they at- 
tain their greatest size. When they have cast their several 
skins, reached their greatest size, and assumed a transparent 
yellowish color, they are removed to places divided into compart- 
ments, preparatory to casting forth their silken filaments. 

In the course of a week after the commencement of this op- 



CHINESE MODE OP REARING SILK-WORMS, ETC. 123 

eration, the cocoons are complete, and it now becomes neces- 
sary to take them in hand before the pupse turn into moths. 
which would immediately bore their way out, and spoil the co- 
coons. When a certain number, therefore, have been laid aside 
for the sake of future eggs, the chrysalides are killed by being 
placed in jars under layers of salt and leaves, with a complete 
exclusion of air. They are subsequently placed in moderately 
warm water, which dissolves the glutinous substance that binds 
the silk together, and the filament is wound off upon reels. 
This is put up in bundles of a certain size and weight, and 
either becomes an article of merchandise under the name of 
il raw silk," or is subjected to the loom, and manufactured into 
various stuffs, for home or foreign consumption. The Chinese 
notwithstanding the simplicity of their looms (see frontispiece), 
will imitate exactly the newest and most elegant patterns from 
France. They particularly excel in the production of damasks, 
figured-satins, and embroidery. Their crape has never yet 
been perfectly imitated ; and they make a species of washing 
silk, called at Canton " ponge," which, the longer it is used, the 
softer it becomes. 

The Chinese have from time immemorial been celebrated for 
the beauty of their embroideries ; indeed, it has been doubted 
whether the art was not originally introduced into Europe by 
them, through the Persians. 

From what has been said, it is evident that the raising of the 
mulberry-tree should first engage the attention of the cultiva- 
tor, since its leaves form the almost exclusive nourishment of 
the silk-worm. It is scarcely necessary that we should in a 
work of this description enter more fully into the cultivation of 
the mulberry-tree. This has already been so ably done by 
Jonathan Cobb, Esq. of Dedham, Mass., Dr. Pascalis of New 
York, Judge Comstock of Hartford, Conn., and E. P. Roberts, 
Esq. of Baltimore, as to leave no stone unturned, or any want 
upon the subject. 

In such parts of the Chinese empire where the climate is fa- 
vorable to the practice, and where alone, most probably, the 
silk-worm is indigenous, it remains at liberty, feeding on the 
leaves of its native mulberry-tree, and going through all its mu- 



124 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP SILK. 

tations among the branches, uncontrolled by the hand and un- 
assisted by the cares of man. As soon, however, as the silken 
balls have been constructed, they are appropriated by the uni- 
versal usurper, who spares only the few required to reproduce 
their numbers, and thus furnish him with successive harvests*. 
This silk, the spontaneous offering of nature, is not, however, 
equal in fineness to that produced by worms under shelter, and 
whose progressions are influenced by careful management. 
Much attention is, therefore, bestowed by the Chinese in the 
artificial rearing of silk-worms. One of their principal cares, 
is to prevent the too early hatching of the eggs, to which the 
nature < f the climate so strongly disposes them. The mode 
of insuring the requisite delay, is, to cause the moth to deposit 
her eggs on large sheets of paper : these, immediately upon 
their production, are suspended from a beam in the room, while 
the windows are opened to expose them to the air. In a few 
days the papers are taken down and rolled loosely up with the 
eggs inside, in which form they are again hung during the 
remainder of the summer, and autumn. Towards the end of 
the year they are immersed in cold water wherein a small por- 
tion of salt has been dissolved. In this state the eggs are left 
during two days ; and on being taken from the salt and water 
are first hung to dry, and then rolled up rather more tightly 
than before, each sheet of paper being thereafter inclosed in a 



* Mons. Marteloy of Montpelier, who made many experiments upon the rear- 
ing of silk-worms, presented a memorial upon the subject to the French minister, 
in compliance with whose recommendation, a few silk growers of Languedoc 
caused an experiment to be publicly made in the open air, in the garden belong- 
ing to the Jesuits' college at Montpelier. The whole was placed under the direc- 
tion of Mons. Marteloy, who had 1200 livres assigned to him to defray the neces- 
sary expenses. The experiment succeeded perfectly. This was in 1764. In 
the following year a second trial was made, and 1800 livres were set apart for 
the expenses. Owing, however, to the unfavorable nature of the season, this ex- 
periment failed entirely, the heavy and incessant rains making it impossible to 
keep the food of the worms in a sufficiently dry state. The rearing of silk-worms 
in the open air was not again attempted in that quarter ; but the partial success 
led to the adoption among cultivators of a better system of ventilation, and the 
production of silk was about this time very much extended throughout Langue- 
doc— Obs. on the Culture of Silk, by A. Stephenson. 



CHINESE MODE OF REARING SILK-WORMS, ETC. 125 

separate earthen vessel. Some persons, who are exceedingly 
particular in their processes, use a lye made of mulberry-tree 
ashes, and place the eggs likewise, during some minutes, on 
snow-water. 

These processes appear efficacious for checking the hatching, 
until the expanding leaves of the mulberry-tree give notice to 
the silk-worm-rearer that he may take measures for bringing 
forth his brood. For this purpose the rolls of paper are taken 
from the earthen vessels, and hung up towards the sun, the 
side to which the eggs adhere being turned from its rays, by 
being placed inside, and thus allowing the heat to be transmit- 
ted to them through the paper. In the evening the sheets are 
rolled closely up and placed in a warm situation. The same 
proceeding is repeated on the following day, when the eggs as- 
sume a grayish color. On the evening of the third day, after 
a similar exposure, they are found to be of a much darker color, 
nearly approaching to black ; and the following morning, on 
the paper being unrolled, they are covered with worms. In the 
higher latitudes the Chinese have recourse to the heat of stoves, 
in order to promote the simultaneous hatching of the eggs. 

The apartments in which the worms are kept stand in dry 
situations, in a pure atmosphere, and apart from all noise, which 
is thought to be annoying to the worms, especially when they 
are young. The rooms are made very close, but adequate 
means of ventilation provided : the doors being open to the 
south. Each chamber is provided with nine or ten rows of 
frames, placed one above the other. On these frames, rush 
hurdles are ranged ; upon which the worms are fed through 
their five ages. A uniform degree of heat is constantly pre- 
served, either by means of stoves placed in the corners of the 
apartments, or by chafing-dishes which from time to time are 
carried up and down the room. Flame and smoke being al- 
ways carefully avoided : cow-dung dried in the sun is preferred 
by the Chinese to all other kinds of fuel for this purpose. 

The most unremitting attention is paid to the wants of the 
worms, which are fed night and day. On their being hatched 
they are furnished with forty meals for the first day, thirty are 
given on the second day, and fewer on and after the third. 



126 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

The Chinese believe that the growth of silk-worms is accel- 
erated, and their success promoted by the abundance of their 
food, and therefore, in cloudy and damp weather, when the 
insects are injuriously affected by the state of the atmosphere, 
their appetites are stimulated by a wisp of very dry straw being 
lighted and held over them, thus causing the cold and damp 
air to be dissipated. 

The Chinese calculate that the same number of insects 
which would, if they had attained the full size in twenty-three 
or twenty-four days, produce twenty-five ounces of silk, would 
give only twenty ounces if their growth occupied twenty-eight 
days, and only ten ounces if forty days. In order, therefore, to 
accelerate their growth, they supply them with fresh food every 
half-hour during the first day of their existence, and then grad- 
ually reduce the number of meals as the worms grow older. 
It deserves to be remarked as a fact unnoticed in Natural The- 
olog3'', that the substance on which this valuable caterpillar 
feeds, is the leaf of the mulberry-tree ; and Providence, as if to 
ensure the continuance of this useful species, has so ordained 
it that no other insect will partake of the same food ; thus en- 
suring a certain supply for the little spinster. 

Many persons believe that light is injurious to silk-worms ; 
but, so far from this opinion being correct, the opposite belief 
would probably be nearer to the truth. In its native state, the 
insect is of course exposed to light, and suffers no inconvenience 
on that account ; and it has been observed by one who gave 
much attention to the subject (Count Dandolo), that in his 
establishment, " on the side on which the sun shone directly 
on the hurdles, the silk-worms were stronger and more numer- 
ous than in those places where the edge of the wicker hurdle 
formed a shade." The obscurity wherein the apartments are 
usually kept has a very pernicious influence on the air : the 
food of the worms emits in light oxygen, or vital air, while in 
darkness it exhales carbonic acid gas, unfit for respiration. 
This well-known fact occurs alike with all leaves similarly 
circumstanced*. To the bad effects thus arising from the ex- 

* " There is in the order of nature a certain and very surprising fact ; when 



CHTNESE MODE OP REARING SILK-WORMS, ETC. 127 

elusion of the sun's rays, another evil is added by the nature 
of the artificial lights employed, being such as still further to 
vitiate the air. 

An almost incredible quantity of fluid is constantly disen- 
gaged by evaporation from the bodies of the insects ; and if 
means be not taken to disperse this as it is produced, another 
cause of unwholesomeness in the air arises. Noticing this, 
Count Dandolo observes, " This series of causes of the deterio- 
ration of the air which the worms must inhale, may be termed 
a continual conspiracy against their health and life ; and their 
resisting it, and living throughout shows them to have great 
strength of constitution." 

In seven days from the commencement of the cocoons they 
are collected in heaps ; those which are designed to continue 



the leaves of vegetables are struck by the sun's rays, they exhale an immense 
quantity of vital air necessary to the life of animals, and which they consume by 
respiration. 

" These same leaves in the shade as well as in darkness exhale an immense 
quantity of mephitic or fixed air, which cannot be inhaled without destruction of 

life. 

" This influence of the sun does not cease even when the leaf has been recently 
gathered ; on the contrary, in darkness, gathered leaves will exhale a still greater 
quantity of mephitic air. 

" Place one ounce of fresh mulberry leaves in a wide-necked bottle of the size 
of a Paris- pint, containing two pounds of liquid ; expose this bottle to the sun ; 
about an hour afterwards, according to the intensity of the sun, reverse the bottle 
and introduce a lighted taper in it ; this done, the light will become brighter, 
whiter, and larger, which proves that the vital air contained in the bottle has in- 
creased by that which has disengaged itself from the leaves : to demonstrate this 
phenomenon more clearly, a taper may be put in a similar bottle, that only con- 
tains the air which has entered into it by its being uncorked. Shortly after the 
first experiment, water will be found in the bottle which contained the mulberry 
leaves ; this water, evaporating from the leaves by means of the heat, hangs on 
the sides, and runs to the bottom when cooling ; the leaves appear more or less 
withered and dry according to the liquid they have lost. In another similar bot- 
tle place an ounce of leaves, and cork it exactly like the former ; place it in ob- 
scurity, either in a box, or wrap it in cloths, in short, so as totally to exclude 
light ; about two hours after, open the bottle, and put either a lighted taper or a 
small bird into it ; the candle will go out, and the bird will perish, as if they had 
been plunged into water, which demonstrates that in darkness the leaves havo 
exhaled mephitic air, while in the sun they exhaled vital air." — Count Dando- 
lo's Treatise on the Art of Rearing Silk-worms, p. 144. 



128 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

the breed being first selected and set apart on hurdles, in a 
dry and airy situation. The next care, is to destroy the vital- 
ity of the chrysalides in those balls which are to be reeled. 
The most approved method of performing' this, is to fill large 
earthen vessels with cocoons, in layers, throwing in one-fortieth 
part of their weight of salt upon each layer, covering the whole 
with large dry leaves resembling those of the water-lilly, and 
then closely stopping the mouths of the vessels. In reeling 
their silk the Chinese separate the thick and dark from the 
long and glittering white cocoons, as the produce of the former 
is inferior. 

We are indebted to Dr. Ure for the two following articles 
{extracted from the Journal of the Asiatic Society, for Jan- 
uary, 1837), on wild silk-worms. The first article is from the 
pen of Thomas Hugon, a resident of Nowgong, and relates to 
wild silk- worms of Assam. 

" The Assamese select for breeding, such cocoons only as have 
been begun to be formed in the largest number on the same 
day, usually the second or third after the commencement ; 
those which contain males being distinguishable by a more 
pointed end. They are put in a closed basket suspended from 
the roof; the moths, as they come forth, having room to move 
about, at the expiration of a day, the females (known only by 
their large body) are taken out, and tied to small wisps of 
thatching-straw, selected always from over the hearth, its dark- 
ened color being thought more acceptable to the insect. If out 
of a batch, there should be but few males ; the wisps with the 
females tied to them are exposed outside at night ; and the 
males thrown away in the neighborhood, find their way to 
them. These wisps are hung upon a string tied across the 
roof, to keep them from vermin. The eggs laid after the first 
three days, are said to produce weak worms. The wisps are 
taken out morning and evening, and exposed to the sun, and 
in ten days after being laid, a few of them are hatched. The 
wisps being then hung up to the tree, the young worms find 
their way to the leaves. The ant, whose bite is fatal to the 
worm in its early stages, is destroyed by rubbing the trunk of 
the tree with molasses, and tying dead fish and toads to it, to 



CHINESE MODE OF RAISING SILK-WORMS, ETC. 129 

attract these rapacious insects in large numbers, when they are 
destroyed with fire ; a process which needs to be repeated seve- 
ral times. The ground under the trees is also well cleared, to 
render it easy to pick up and replace the worms which fall 
down. They are prevented from coming to the ground, by 
tying fresh plantain-leaves round the trunk, over whose slip- 
pery surface they cannot crawl; and then transferred from 
exhausted trees to fresh ones, on bamboo platters tied to long 
poles. The worms require to be constantly watched and pro- 
tected from the depredations of both day and night birds, as 
well as rats and other vermin. During their moultings, they 
remain on the branches ; but when about beginning to spin, 
they come down the trunk, and being stopped by the plantain- 
leaves, are there collected in baskets, which are afterwards put 
under bunches of dry leaves, suspended from the roof, into 
which the worms crawl, and form their cocoons — several being 
clustered together : this accident, owing to the practice of crowd- 
ing the worms, which is most injudicious, rendering it impos- 
sible to wind off their silk in continuous threads, as in the fila- 
tures of Italy, France, and even Bengal. The silk is, therefore, 
spun like flax, instead of being unwound in single filaments. 
After four days the proper cocoons are selected for the next 
breed, and the rest are reeled. The total duration of a breed 
varies from sixty to seventy days ; divided into the following 
periods : — 

Four moultings, with one day's illness attending each, - - 20 
From fourth moulting to beginning of cocoon, .... 10 
In the cocoon 20, as a moth 6, hatching of eggs 10, - - - 36 

66 

" On being tapped with the finger, the body renders a hollow 
sound ; the quality of which shows whether they have come 
down for want of leaves on the tree, or from their having ceas- 
ed feeding. 

" As the chrysalis is not soon killed by exposure to the sun, 
the cocoons are put on stages, covered with leaves, and exposed 
to the hot air from grass burned under them ; they are next 
boiled for about an hour in a solution of the potash, made from 

17 



130 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

icinerated rice-stalks ; then taken out and put on a cloth folded 
over them to keep them warm. The floss being removed by 
hand, they are then thrown into a basin of hot water to be un 
wound ; which is done in a very rude and wasteful way. 

" The plantations for the mooga silk-worm in Lower Assam, 
amount to 5000 acres, besides what the forests contain ; and 
yield 1500 maunds of 84 lbs. each per annum. Upper Assam 
is more productive. 

" The cocoon of the Koutkuri mooga is of the size of a 
fowl's egg. It is a wild species, and affords filaments much 
valued for fishing-lines. 

( ' The Arrindy, or Erla worm, and moth, is reared over a 
great part of Hindostan, but entirely within doors. It is fed 
principally on the Hera, or Palma chrlsti leaves, and gives 
sometimes 12 broods of spun silk in the course of a year. It 
affords a fibre which looks rough at first ; but when woven, 
becomes soft and silky, after repeated w T ashings. The poorest 
people are clothed with stuff made of it, which is so durable as 
to descend from mother to daughter. The cocoons are put in 
a close basket, and hung up in the house, out of reach of rats 
and insects. When the moths come forth, they are allowed to 
move about in the basket for twenty-four hours ; after which 
the females are tied to long reeds or canes, twenty or twenty- 
five to each, and then hung up in the house. Of the eggs 
that are laid the first three days, about 200, only are kept; 
then tied up for seed. When a few of the worms are hatched, 
the cloths are put on small bamboo platters hung up in the 
house, in which they are fed with tender leaves. After the 
second moulting, they are removed to bunches of leaves sus- 
pended above the ground, beneath which a mat is laid to re- 
ceive them when they fall. When they cease to feed, they are 
thrown into basketsfull of dry leaves, among which they form 
their cocoons, two or three being often discovered joined to- 
gether. 

" The iSaturnia trifenestrata has a yellow cocoon of a re- 
markably silky lustre. It lives on the soom-tree in Assam, but 
seems not to be much used." 

The second article is from the pen of Dr. Heifer, upon those 



CHINESE MODE OF REARING SILK-WORMS, ETC. 131 

wild silk- worms which are indigenous to India. Besides the 
Bombyx mori, the Doctor enumerates the following seven spe- 
cies, formerly unknown : — 1. " The wild silk- worm of the cen- 
tral provinces, a moth not larger than the Bombyx mori? 2. 
" The Joree silk-worm of Assam, Bombyx religiosce, which 
spins a cocoon of a fine filament, with much lustre. It lives 
upon the pipul tree (Ficus religiosa), which abounds in India, 
and ought therefore to be turned to account in breeding this 
valuable moth." 3. " iSaturnia silhetica, which inhabits the 
cassia mountains in Silhet and Dacca, where its large cocoons 
are spun into silk." 4. " A still larger JSaturnia, one of the 
greatest moths in existence, measuring ten inches from the one 
end of the wing to the other* ; observed by Mr. Grant, in 
Chirra pnnjee? 5. " ISaturnia paphia, or the Tusseh silk- 
worm, is the most common of the native species, and furnishes 
the cloth usually worn by Europeans in India. It has not 
hitherto been domesticated, but millions of its cocoons are an- 
nually collected in the jungles, and brought to the silk factories 
near Calcutta and Bhagelpur. It feeds most commonly on the 
hair-tree (Zizyphus jujuba), but it prefers the Terminalia al- 
ata, or Assam tree, and the Bombax heptaphyllum. It is call- 
ed Koutkuri mooga, in Assam." 6. " Another iSaturnia, from 
the neighborhood of Comercolly." 7. " JSaturnia assamensis, 
with a cocoon of a yellow-brown color, different from all others, 
called mooga, in Assam ; which, although it can be reared in 
houses, thrives best in the open air upon trees, of which seven 
different kinds afford it food. The Mazankoory mooga, which 
feeds on the Adakoory tree, produces a fine silk, which is nearly 
white, and fetches 50 per cent, more than the fawn colored. 
The trees of the first year's growth produce by far the most 
valuable cocoons. The mooga which inhabits the soom-tree, 
is found principally in the forests of the plains, and in the vil- 
lages. The tree grows to a large size, and yields three crops 
of leaves in the year. The silk is of a light fawn color, and 
ranks next in value to the Mazankoory. There are generally 
five breeds of mooga worms in the year ; 1. In January and 



* See p. 40 Also p. 54. (note *) 



132 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

February ; 2. In May and June ; 3. In June and July ; 4. In 
August and September ; 5. In October and November ; the first 
and last being the most valuable." 

Dr. Anderson informs us, that in Madras the silk-worm goes 
through all its evolutions in the short space of twenty-two days. 
It appears, however, that the saving of time, and consequently 
labor, is the only economy resulting from the acceleration ; as 
the insects consume as much food during their shorter period of 
fife, as is assigned to the longer-lived silk-worms of Europe. 

We extract the following paper, with slight emendations, 
from Ellsworth's Report of the Patent Office for the year 1844, 
being a communication from Dr. Stebbins of Northampton, 
Mass*., to the Editor of the American Agriculturalist, as having 
some bearing upon the present subject. 

" As requested, I forward you a sketch of Mr. Gill's cra- 
dle for feeding silk-worms, (It is not necessary for us to give 
a drawing of it in a work like the present, which is chiefly 
intended for the general reader, and besides, this machine 
is already sufficiently known to silk culturists.) I have five 
patches of mulberry, (in all, ten or twelve acres,) two parcels 
of which you have seen. The one adjoining my garden, by 
estimation, may furnish foliage sufficient for a million and 
a half of worms. The mulberries consist of the white, black, 
alpine, broosa, moretta, alata, multicaulis, Asiatic, and large- 
leaf Canton. The two latter I prefer for my own use — 
the Canton for early feeding with foliage, and the Asiastic for 
branch feeding. The Canton is highly approved of for produ- 
cing heavy and firm cocoons, which, by competent testimony 
and experiments, have been found in favor of the Canton feed 
as five to eight, and is the true species used by the Chinese, 
as testified by a resident Missionary, the Rev. E. C. Bridg- 
man, and more recently by Dr. Parker, while on his late visit 
to the United States. I consider the peanut variety of worms 
the best for producing the most silk of a good quality. 

" From an elevated plat near my cocoonery, you had a view 
of our extensive meadows spread out at the foot of Mount Ho- 



* Sec Chapter XIII. p. 211. 



CHINESE MODE OF REARING SILK-WORMS, ETC. 133 

lyoke. My cocoonery you have examined, with its fixtures for 
feeding silk-worms — the mode of open feeding, ventilator, and 
ventilating cradles. Since you left, the whole has been com- 
pleted, with hammocks suspended over the cradles, easily put in 
motion, and so constructed that no offal can drop into the cradles 
beneath, nor interfere with the rocking motion or winding ; the 
arrangement is much admired, and estimated to accommodate 
half a million of worms, or more, to be fed simultaneously. 
About half of the cocoonery has hurdles of lattice work, cover- 
ed in part with gauze netting four feet wide and the same 
number of tiers in height. The cocoonery is supposed to be 
sufficiently open on the sides, ends, and roof, to admit a free 
circulation of pure air. The flooring is the natural earth. 

" The past winter has been uncommonly severe on grape-vines 
and fruit ; forest and mulberry trees ; the Asiatic I found the 
most hardy of any other, and the Canton the earliest in foliage. 
On the 21st and 22d of May there were severe frosts, destroy- 
ing garden vegetables, and injuring some early mulberry foliage; 
added to this, ice was formed in many places. The accounts 
from Vermont and New Hampshire are so disastrous as to delay 
early feeding ; while in Northampton, June 14, at one of my 
plantations, you saw silk-worms in the act of winding, and 
others in a good state of forwardness. On the day of your de- 
parture, I received a letter from a distant silk grower, a staunch 
promoter of the one early and open crop system, that, on ac- 
count of the unpropitious season and condition of his trees, he 
would delay fetching out his worms until the last of June, and 
then make his great effort upon one crop. 

" To provide against premature hatching of silk- worms, or the 
disaster of an early frost, it is advisable to have foliage gathered 
and dried the year preceding; which, being pulverized and 
moistened with water, may be given to the worms until new 
foliage appears ; and they will eat it freely. 

" To obtain the most and best foliage of the mulberry, it will 
be necessary every Spring to cut or head them down within 
three or four inches of the ground, and preserve the stalks for 
bark-silk. I have a quantity of them saved with bark peeled 
from the large Asiatics to be used for making bark-silk, in ad- 



134 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

dition to a quantity of mulberry-leaves preserved for making 
paper. The whole process, although not carried out, as yet, in 
this country, with either, has been successfully accomplished in 
France, from proof shown by M. Frassinet. I am endeavor- 
ing to have it tested here, by subjecting both stalk and peeled 
bark to the operation of steaming with soap and water, to facil- 
itate the separation of the bark from the wood, and the outside 
cuticle from the fibrous substance of the bark, before trying the 
operation of the brake for dressing, carding, spinning, &c. 
Should it prove successful, it will be made public (See Mr. 
Zinke's process, Chapter XL). Hopes are entertained that 
what has been done may be done again ; that Yankee ingenu- 
ity and perseverance may prove a match for foreign cheap la- 
bor^). 

" The present time has been called the age of invention and 
improvement. But if " there is nothing new under the sun " 
(a pretty fair illustration of this assertion of the wise man — 
Yide Ecclesiastes i. 9, 10.— will be found in this work.) ; and 
if what is, has been and may be again, then may we hope to 
be benefitted by the reproduction of astonishing results in all 
coming time ; and even now, while there has been anxious in- 
quiry for some easy mode to separate the bark of the mulberry 
from the wood, an historical fact has been recently communi- 
cated^) ; by which, some two hundred and forty years ago, in 
the year 1600, an accident occurred, which resulted in the 
manufacture of a handsome fabric from the fibrous bark of the 
mulberry, with the inference that the bark had been previously 
used for the manufacture of cordage, on account of the supe- 
rior strength of the fibrous bark over that of other materials 
used for cordage*. 

" Under date of June 6, 1844, I have been favored with a let- 
ter from the president of one of the most eminent literary insti- 
tutions of our country, who expresses his opinion of the prog- 
ress of silk culture as follows : 

* We have abundant testimony that the most beautiful fabrics, comprising 
mantles, &c, as well as cordage, was produced from the bark of trees, as early 
as the year 412 B. C. So that Mr. Stebbins's " historical fact " is anticipated by 
2012 years ! (See Chapters XII. and XIII. of this Part.) 



CHINESE MODE OP REARING SILK-WORMS, ETC. 135 

' I am gratified to find a renewed and more general interest 
excited at the present time. If this awaking up to a scien- 
tific and practical consideration of the subject is not soon crown- 
ed with signal success, I am satisfied it will not be for want of 
enterprize or skill in our countrymen, but merely from the high 
priee of labor, compared with the scanty wages given in other 
silk-growing countries. Even this consideration (though it 
may retard for a while the complete success of this department 
of productive industry), will not prevent its ultimate triumph.' 

" The above is the opinion of one of the most scientific men 
of the age, who, in early life, was himself a silk grower. His 
opinion accords with that of many others of high consideration 
in the United States. 

" While viewing the flourishing condition of one of my mul- 
berry patches, you asked with what it had been manured 1 and 
received for answer, ashes, and the deciduous foliage. The 
foliage, you thought, could be gathered for making paper, and 
answered, that there would be sufficient defective foliage left to 
manure the land ; the foliage is richer than any stable manure, 
and stable manure should never be applied to the mulberry. I 
have not had occasion the last five or six years to use even 
ashes as a manure, but keep the land in good tilth by frequent 
hoeing. If you found these mulberries more flourishing than 
others you had seen, it may be attributed, in a great measure, 
to frequent hoeing, and dressing with the decayed mulberry 
foliage. 

" The soil is a light sandy loam ; and, previous to its being 
stocked with mulberry, would not yield the value of $10 in any 
crop ; and now. my feeder says, if his worms do well, he hopes 
to get $800 for the crop ! A part of this lot being stocked with 
alpine, broosa, and Asiatic mulberry, of 6 to 10 feet in height, 
in rows 3 feet apart ; and having grown so vigorously as to 
shade each other, and liable to have spotted leaves. I have, in 
order to avoid this, and procure more, larger, and better foliage, 
cut away or headed down every other row, within three or four 
inches of the ground ; and from the stumps have sprung up a 
multitude of thrifty sprouts, now fit for use, and the leaves three 
times larger than those on the standard trees, are so fresh and 



136 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

tender, that in some measure it is hoped, they may answer the 
purpose of seedling foliage, so highly recommended by M. Fras- 
sinet, who has the following encomium on seedling foliage : 
' that 100 pounds of such foliage is worth near 200 pounds of 
old leaves to make the same quantity of cocoons ; or in fact, 
equivalent in value to nearly double the stock of other foliage.' 
I have caused considerable bark to be stripped from the Asiatic 
trees cut away for manufacturing purposes ; and M. Rouviere, 
of Lyons, has proved that the bark of young shoots, submitted 
to the same process as hemp, yields abundant silk-fibre to make 
beautiful tissues (noticed at the close of Chapter XI.). I should 
advise silk growers to preserve the shoots, have them barked 
in the best way, and the silky fibre rotted, carded, spun, and 
wove. M. Rouviere asserts that it will be not only fine and 
strong, but take the most beautiful colors. Of the bark, ropes 
and nets are made in the Morea, and may be applied to great 
advantage in the manufacture of paper, together with the 
foliage. 

" The Canton and Asiatic seed sown this year are in a flour- 
ishing condition for plantation use, exclusive of several mulber- 
ry plantations which will be for rent, or growing silk on shares, 
next spring. Up to the first of July, worms have been uncom- 
monly healthy — the probable effect of more open ventilation 
than in former years. 

" Mr. Dabney, consul at Fayal, (now in Boston) has two mil- 
lions of worms at present on feed. S. Whitmarsh, at Jamaica, 
has 360 of what he calls creolized native eggs, in constant 
feed, which go through the whole course to the cocoon in 24 
days. The eggs hatch in 10 days after being laid. He has 
received the silk report, and made such improvement as to 
save, in all, nine-tenths of the usual labor. The silk cause at 
Jamaica occasions great interest in England for its prosperity 
and success." 

D. Stebbins. 

Northampton, Mass., July, 1844. 

We will now conclude this Chapter with Dr. Bowring's ad- 
mirable illustration, of the mutual dependence of the arts upon 
each other : — 



CHINESE MODE OF REARING SILK-WORMS, ETC. 137 

" Let us fancy that some thousand years ago, a mortal, wandering through an 
oriental wood, saw a worm falling from a fruit-bearing tree — that he found this 
little creature had reached the end of one of its stages of existence, and was labo- 
riously engaged in shrouding itself in an unknown substance, like a fine thread of 
gold, out of which it constructed its tomb ; that, attracted by the circumstance, 
he found this shroud to consist of a thread hundreds of yards long, which a very 
little attention enabled him to detach ; he found he could strengthen the threads 
by uniting them together, and they could be applied to various purposes of useful- 
ness ; he thought of winding off the thread ; the reel lends him the first assistance, 
but he could not make the reel without the co-operation of a knife, or some such 
instrument with a sharp edge. Thus the aid of art — of the produce of art — is 
already called in. With this rude instrument he makes a machine which enables 
him to reel off the thread coffin of the curious animal. In process of time, he 
finds that this fine filament can be applied to the making of garments — garments 
alike useful and ornamental. Now trace the progress of things by which, from 
the narrow sphere of his observation and experiment, his success spreads through 
the districts he inhabits, and from them to other lands, and becomes an object of 
importance to communicate with the whole family of man. By and by the co- 
coon, or its produce, finds its way to foreign countries, probably more enlightened 
than his own, again to be operated on by a higher intelligence and more practised 
skill. This associates the thread of the silk-worm with a ship, with ship-building 
and all its marvellous combinations. — Some wandering merchant probably con- 
veyed the raw material to Persia ; some adventurous mariner to Greece or Italy, 
or other regions where it gave a new impulse to science and to thought. But 
consider for a moment, before the ship was launched upon the water, how many 
elements were necessary for its production ; think of how multitudinous and va- 
rious the materials which that ship required for its construction, before the prod- 
ucts of that remote country are brought to their ultimate markets for manufac- 
ture. I refer to this particular topic, because it is associated with the prosperity 
of the districts in which we are, and I wished to carry back your thoughts to the 
germ whence that prosperity sprung." — Bowring's Lecture at the Poplar Insti- 
tution. 

18 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE SPIDER. 

ATTEMPTS TO PROCURE SILKEN FILAMENTS FROM SPIDERS. 

Structures of spiders — Spiders not properly insects, and why — Apparatus for spin- 
ning — Extraordinary number of spinnerules — Great number of filaments com- 
posing one thread — Reaumur and Leeuwenhoeck's laughable estimates — At- 
tachment of the thread against a wall or stick — Shooting of the lines of spiders 
— 1. Opinions of Redi, Swammerdam, and Kirby — 2. Lister, Kirby, and White 
— 3. La Pluche and Bingley — 4. D'Isjonval, Murray, and Bowman — 5. Ex- 
periments of Mr. Blackwall — His account of the ascent of gossamer — 6. Ex- 
periments by Rennie — Thread supposed to go off double — Subsequent experi- 
ments — Nests, Webs, and Nets of Spiders — Elastic satin nest of a spider — Eve- 
lyn's account of hunting spiders — Labyrinthic spider's nest — Erroneous account 
of the House Spider — Geometric Spiders — attempts to procure silken filaments 
from Spiders' bags — Experiments of M. Bon — Silken material — Manner of its 
preparations — M. Bon's enthusiasm — His spider establishment — Spider-silk not 
poisonous — Its usefulness in healing wounds — Investigation of M. Bon's estab- 
lishment by M. Reaumur — His objections — Swift's satire against speculators 
and projectors — Ewbank's interesting observations on the ingenuity of spiders — 
Mason-spiders — Ingenious door with a hinge — Nest from the West Indies with 
spring hinge — Raft-building Spider — Diving Water-Spider — Rev. Mr. Kirby's 
beautiful description of it — Observations of M. Clerck — Cleanliness of Spiders — 
Structure of their claws — Fanciful account of them patting their webs— ^Pro- 
ceedings of a spider in a steamboat — Addison — His suggestions on the compila- 
tion of a " Histoiy of Insects." 

Of spiders there are many species ; most of them extend 
their labors no further than merely to make a web to ensnare 
and detain their food. But others are known to go beyond 
this, and spin a bag in the form of a cocoon, for the protection 
of their eggs, nearly similar to that of the silk-worm.* 

Modern naturalists do not rank spiders among insects, be- 
cause they have no antennae, and no division between the head 

* Don Luis Nee observed on certain trees growing in Chilpancingo, Tixtala in 
South America, ovate nests of caterpillars, eight inches long, which the inhabi 
tants manufacture into stockings and handkerchiefs. — Annals of Botany, 2d, p 
104. 



SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 139 

and shoulders. They breathe by leaf-shaped gills, situated un- 
der the belly, instead of spiracles in the sides ; and have a heart 
connected with these. But as spiders are popularly considered 
insects, it will sufficiently suit our purpose to introduce them 
here as such. 

Spiders are usually classed according to their difference of 
color, whether black, brown, yellow, &c, or sometimes by the 
number and arrangement of their eyes : of these organs some 
possess no fewer than ten, others eight, and others again six*. 

Some species of spiders are known to possess the power of not 
merely forming a web, but also of spinning, for the protection 
of their eggs, a bag somewhat similar in form and substance 
to the cocoon of the silk-worm. The apparatus by which they 
construct their ingenious fabrics, is much more complicated 
than that which is common to the various species of caterpil- 
lars. Caterpillars have only two reservoirs for the materials 
of their silk ; but the spider spins minute fibres from fine papil- 
lae, or small nipples placed in the hinder part of its body. These 
papillee serve the office of so many wire-drawing machines, from 
which the silken threadlets are ejected. Spiders, according to 
the dissections of M. Treviranus, have four principal vessels, 
two larger and two smaller, with a number of minute ones at 
their base. Several small tubes branch towards the reservoirs, 
for carrying to them, no doubt, a supply of the secreted mate- 
rial. Sw'ammerdam describes them as twisted into many coils 
of an agate colorf*. We do not find them coiled, but nearly 
straight, and of a deep yellow color. From these, when bro- 
ken, threads can be drawn out like those spun by the spider, 
though we cannot draw them so fine by many degrees. 

From these little flasks or bags of gum, situated near the 
apex of the abdomen, and not at the mouth as in caterpillars, 
a tube originates, and terminates in the external spinnerets, 
which may be seen by the naked eye in the form of five little 
teats surrounded by a small circle, as represented in Fig. 8. 



* Porter's " Treatise on the Silk Manufacture," p. 168. 
t Hill's Swammerdam, part i. p. 23. 



140 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

Plate IV. ; this figure shows the garden spider (Epeira dia- 
dema) suspended by a thread proceeding from its spinneret. 

We have seen that the thread of the silk-worm is composed 
of two filaments united, but the spider's thread would appear, 
from the first view of its five spinnerets, to be quintuple, and in 
some species which have six teats, so many times more. It is not 
safe, however, in our interpretations of nature to proceed upon 
conjecture, however plausible, nor to take anything for granted 
which we have not actually seen ; since our inferences in such 
cases are almost certain to be erroneous. If Aristotle, for exam- 
ple, had ever looked narrowly at a spider when spinning, he 
could not have fancied, as he does, that the materials which it 
uses are nothing but wool stripped from its body. On looking, 
then, with a strong magnifying glass, at the teat-shaped spin- 
nerets of a spider, we perceive them studded with regular rows 
of minute bristle-like points, about a thousand to each teat, 
making in all from five to six thousand. These are minute 
tubes which we may appropriately term spimiendes, as each 
is connected with the internal reservoirs, and emits a thread 
of inconceivable fineness. Fig. 9. represents this wonderful 
apparatus as it appears in the microscope. 

We do not recollect that naturalists have ventured to assign 
any cause for this very remarkable multiplicity of the spinner- 
ules of spiders, so different from the simple spinneret of cater- 
pillars. To us it appears an admirable provision for their mode 
of life. Caterpillars neither require such strong materials, nor 
that their thread should dry as quickly. It is well known in 
our manufactures, particularly in rope-spinning, that in cords 
of equal thickness, those which are composed of many smaller 
ones united are stronger than those spun at once. In the in- 
stance of the spider's thread, this principle must hold still more 
strikingly, inasmuch as it is composed of fluid materials that 
require to be dried rapidly, and this drying must be greatly 
facilitated by exposing so many to the air separately before 
their union, which is effected at about the tenth of an inch 
from the spinnerets. In Fig. 10. Plate IV. each of the threads 
shown is represented to contain one hundred minute threads, 
the whole forming only one of the spider's common threads. 



SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 141 

In the figure the threads are, of course, greatly magnified, so 
that, for the small space represented, the lines are shown as 
parallel. The threadlets, or filaments as they come from the 
papillae, are too fine to be counted with any degree of accuracy, 
but it is evident that very many are sent forth from each of the 
larger papillae. This fact tends to explain the power possessed 
by the spider of producing threads having different degrees of 
tenuity. By applying more or less of these papillae against the 
place whence it begins its web, the spider joins into one thread 
the almost imperceptible individual filaments which it draws 
from its body ; the size of this thread being dependent on the 
number of nipples employed, and regulated by that instinct 
which teaches the creature to make choice of the degree of 
exility most appropriate to the work wherein it is about to 
engage. 

Reaumur relates that he has often counted as many as seventy 
or eighty fibres through a microscope, and perceived that there 
were yet infinitely more than he could reckon ; so that he be- 
lieved himself to be far within the limit of truth in computing 
that the tip of each of the five papillae furnished 1000 separate 
fibres : thus supposing that one slender filament of a spider's 
web is made up of 5000 fibres ! 

Leeuwenhoeck, in one of his extraordinary microscopical ob- 
servations on a young spider, not bigger than a grain of sand, 
upon enumerating the threadlets in one of its threads, calcula- 
ted that it would require four millions of them to be as thick 
as a hair of his head ! 

Another important advantage derived by the spider from the 
multiplicity of its threadlets is, that the thread affords a much 
more secure attachment to a wall, a branch of a tree, or any 
other object, than if it were simple ; for, upon pressing the 
spinneret against the object, as spiders always do when they fix 
a thread, the spinnerules are extended over an area of some 
diameter, from every hair's breadth of which a strand, as rope- 
makers term it, is extended to compound the main cord. Fig. 
11. Plate IV. exhibits, magnified, this ingenious contrivance. 
Those who may be curious to examine it, will see it best when 



142 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

the line is attached to any black object, for the threads, being 
whitish, are, in otherwise, not so easily perceived. 

Shooting of the lines. — It has long been considered a 
curious though difficult investigation, to determine in what 
manner spiders, seeing that they are destitute of wings, trans- 
port themselves from tree to tree, across brooks, and frequently 
through the air itself, without any apparant starting point. On 
looking into the authors who have treated upon this subject, 
it is surprising how little there is to be met with that is new, 
even in the most recent. Their conclusions, or rather their 
conjectural opinions, are, however, worthy of notice ; for by 
unlearning error, we the more firmly establish truth. 

1. One of the earliest notions upon this subject is that of 
Blancanus, the commentator on Aristotle, which is partly 
adopted by Redi, by Henricus Regius of Utrecht, by Swammer- 
dam*, by Lehmann, as well as by Kirby and Spencet. " The 
spider's thread," says Swammerdam, " is generally made up of 
two or more parts, and after descending by such a thread, it as- 
cends by one only, and is thus enabled to waft itself from one 
height or tree to another, even across running waters ; the 
thread it leaves loose behind it being driven about by the wind, 
and so fixed to some other body." " I placed," says Kirby, 
" the large garden spider (Epeira diadem,a) upon a stick about 

a foot long, set upright in a vessel containing water 

It let itself drop, not by a single thread, but by two, each distant 
from the other about the twelfth of an inch, guided, as usual, 
by one of its hind feet, and that one apparently smaller than 
the other. When it had suffered itself to descend nearly to the 
surface of the water, it stopped short, and by some means, 
which I could not distinctly see, broke off, close to the spinners, 
the smallest thread, which still adhering by the other end to 
the top of the stick, floated in the air, and was so light as to be 
carried about by the slightest breath. On approaching a pencil 
to the loose end of this line, it did not adhere from mere con- 
tact. I, therefore, twisted it once or twice round the pencil, and 
then drew it tight. The spider, which had previously climbed 

* Swammerdam, part i. p. 24. t Intr. vol. i. p. 415. 



SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 



143 



to the top of the stick, immediately pulled at it with one of its 
feet, and finding it sufficiently tense, crept along it, strengthen- 
ing 'it as it proceeded by another thread, and thus reached the 

pencil." 

1. "We have repeatedly witnessed this occurrence," says Mr. 
Rennie, " in the fields, and when spiders were placed for experi- 
ment, as Kirby has described ; but we very much doubt that 
the thread broken is ever intended as a bridge cable, or that it 
would have been so used in that instance, had it not been arti- 
ficially fixed and again accidentally found by the spider. Ac- 
cording to our observations, a spider never for an instant, aban- 
dons, the thread which she dispatches in quest of an attach- 
ment, but uniformly keeps trying it with her feet, in order to 
ascertain its success. We are, therefore, persuaded, that when 
a thread is broken in the manner above described, it is because 
it has been spun too weak, and spiders may often be seen break- 
ing such threads in the process of netting their webs." 

The plan, besides, as explained by these distinguished writers, 
would more frequently prove abortive than successful, from the 
cut thread not being sufficiently long. They admit, indeed, 
that spiders' lines are often found " a yard or two long, fastened 
to twigs of grass not a foot in height Here, there- 
fore, some other process must have been used*." 

2. The celebrated English naturalist, Dr. Lister, whose 
treatise upon the native spiders of that country, has been the 
basis of every subsequent work on the subject, maintains that 
" some spiders shoot out their threads in the same manner that 
porcupines do their quillsf ; that whereas the quills of the lat- 
ter are entirely separated from their bodies, when thus shot out, 
the threads of the former remain fixed to their anus, as the 
sun's rays to its bodyt" A French periodical writer goes a lit- 
tle farther, and says, that spiders have the power of shooting 
out threads, and directing them at pleasure towards a deter- 
mined j)oint, judging of the distance and position of the ob- 



* Kirby and Spence, vol. i. Intr. p. 416. 

t Porcupines do not shoot out their quills, as was once generally believed. 

X Lister, Hist. Animalia Angliae 5 4to. p. 7. 



144 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

ject by some sense of which we are ignorant*. Kirby also 
says, that he once observed a small garden spider (Aranea re- 
ticulata) " standing midway on a long perpendicular fixed 
thread, and an appearance caught" his " eye, of what seemed 
to be the emission of threads." " I," therefore, he adds, " moved 
my arm in the direction in which they apparently proceeded, 
and, as I had suspected, a floating thread attached itself to my 
coat, along which the spider crept. As this was connected with 
the spinners of the spider, it could not have been formed" by 
breaking a " secondary threadf." Again, in speaking of the 
gossamer-spider, he says, " it first extends its thigh, shank, and 
foot, into a right line, and then, elevating its abdomen till it be- 
comes vertical, shoots its thread into the air, and flies off from 
its station*." 

Another distinguished naturalist, Mr. White of Selborne, in 
speaking of the gossamer-spider, says, "Every day in fine 
weather in autumn do I see these spiders shooting out their 
webs, and mounting aloft : they will go off from the finger, if 
you take them into your hand. Last summer, one alighted on 
my book as I was reading in the parlor ; ran to the top of the 
page, and shooting out a web, took its departure from thence. 
But what I most wondered at, was, that it went off with consid- 
erable velocity in a place where no air was stirring ; and I am 
sure I did not assist it with my breath§." 

" Having so often witnessed," says Mr. Rennie, " the thread 
set afloat in the air by spiders, we can readily conceive the way 
in which those eminent naturalists were led to suppose it to be 
ejected by some animal force acting like a syringe ; but as the 
statement can be completely disproved by experiment, we shall 
only at present ask, in the words of Swammerdam — 'how can 
it be possible that a thread so fine and slender should be shot 
out with force enough to divide and pass through the air? — is 
it not rather probable that the air would stop its progress, and 
so entangle it and fit it to perplex the spider's operationsll V " 



* Phil. Mag. ii. p. 275. 

t Vol. i. Intr. p. 417. t Ibid. ii. p. 339. 

§ Nat. Hist, of Selborne, vol. i. p. 327. || Book of Nature, part i. p. 25. 



SILKEN MATERIAL OP THE SPIDER. 145 

The opinion, indeed, is equally improbable with another sug- 
gested by Dr. Lister, that the spider can retract her thread 
within the abdomen, after it has been emitted*. De Geert very 
justly joins Swammerdam in rejecting both of these fancies, 
which, in our own earlier observations upon spiders, certainly 
struck us as plausible and true. There can be no doubt, indeed, 
that the animal has a voluntary power of permitting the ma- 
terial to escape, or stopping it at pleasure, but this is not pro- 
jectile. 

3. « There are many people," says the Abbe de la Pluche, 
" who believe that the spider flies when they see her pass from 
branch to branch, and even from one high tree to another ; but 
she transports herself in this manner ; and places herself upon 
the end of a branch, or some projecting body, and there fastens 
her thread ; after which, with her two hind feet, she squeezes 
her dugs (spinnerets), and presses out one or more threads of 
two or three ells in length, which she leaves to float in the air 
till it be fixed to some particular placet" Without pretending 
to have observed this, Swammerdam says, " I can easily com- 
prehend how spiders, without giving themselves any motion, 
may, by only compressing their spinnerets, force out a thread, 
which being driven by the wind, may serve to waft them from 
place to placei" Others, proceeding upon a similar notion, 
give a rather different account of the matter. " The spider," 
says Bingley, " fixes one end of a thread to the place where 
she stands, and then with her hind paws draws out several 
other threads from the nipples, which, being lengthened out 
and driven by the wind to some neighboring tree or other ob- 
ject, are by their natural clamminess fixed to itll." 

Observation gives some plausibility to the latter opinion, as 
the spider always actively uses her legs, though not to draw 
out the thread, but ascertain whether it has caught upon any 
object. The notion of her pressing the spinneret with her feet 



* Hist. Anim. Angte, 4to. + Memoires, vol. vii. p. 189 

X Spectacle de la Nature, vol. i. § Book of Nature, pt. i. p. 25. 

|| Animal Biography, vol. iii. p. 475, 3d edition. 

19 



146 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

must be a mere fancy ; at least it is not countenanced by any- 
thing which we have observed. 

4. An opinion much more recondite is mentioned, if it was 
not started, by M. D'Isjonval, that the floating of the spider's 
thread is electrical. " Frogs, cats, and other animals," he says, 
'• are affected by natural electricity, and feel the change of wea- 
ther ; but no other animal more than myself and spiders." In 
wet and windy weather he accordingly found that they spun 
very short lines, " but when a spider spins a long thread, 
there is a certainty of fine weather for at least ten or twelve 
days afterwards* '." A periodical writer, who signs himself 
Carolant, fancies that in darting out her thread the spider emits 
a stream of air, or some subtle electric fluid, by which she 
guides it as if by magic. 

A living writer (Mr. John Murray) whose learning and skill 
in conducting experiments give no little weight to his opinions, 
has carried these views considerably farther. " The aeronautic 
spider," he says, " can propel its thread both horizontally and 
vertically, and at all relative angles, in motionless air and in 
an atmosphere agitated by winds ; nay more, the aerial trav- 
eller can even dart its thread, to use a nautical phrase, in the 
1 wind's eye.' My opinion and observations are based on many 

hundred experiments The entire phenomena are 

electrical. When a thread is propelled in a vertical plane, it 
remains perpendicular to the horizontal plane always upright, 
and when others are projected at angles more or less inclined, 
their direction is invariably preserved ; the threads never inter- 
mingle, and when a pencil of threads is propelled, it ever pre- 
sents the appearance of a divergent brush. These are elec- 
trical phenomena, and cannot be explained but on electrical 
principles." 

" In clear, fine weather, the air is invariably positive ; and it 
is precisely in such weather that the aeronautic spider makes 
its ascent most easily and rapidly, whether it be in summer or 
winter." " When the air is weakly positive, the ascent of the 



* Brez, Flore des Insectophiles. Notes, Supp. p. 134. 
t Thomson's Ann. of Philosophy, vol. iii. p. 306. 



SILKEN MATERIAL OP THE SPIDER. 147 

spider will be difficult, and its altitude extremely limited, and 
the threads propelled will be but little elevated above the hori- 
zontal plane. When negative electricity prevails, as in .cloudy 
weather, or on the approach of rain, and the index of De 
Saussure's hygrometer rapidly advancing towards humidity, the 
spider is unable to ascend*." 

Mr. Murray tells us, that " when a stick of excited sealing- 
wax is brought near the thread of suspension, it is evidently 
repelled ; consequently, the electricity of the thread is of a 
negative character," while " an excited glass tube brought near, 
seemed to attract the thread, and with it the aeronautic 
spidert-" His friend, Mr. Bowman, further describes the aerial 
spider as " shooting out four or five, often six or eight, extreme- 
ly fine webs several yards long, which waved in the breeze, di- 
vero-ino- from each other like a pencil of rays." One of them 
" had two distinct and widely diverging fasciculi of webs," and 
" a line uniting them would have been at right angles to the 
direction of the breezet." 

" Such is the chief evidence in support of the electrical the- 
ory," says Mr. Rennie ; " but though we have tried these ex- 
periments, we have not succeeded in verifying any one of them. 
The following statements of Mr. Blackwall come nearer our 
own observations. 

5. ' Having procured a small branched twig,' says Mr. 
Blackwall, ' I fixed it upright in an earthen vessel containing 
water, its base being immersed in the liquid, and upon it I 
placed several of the spiders which produce gossamer. When- 
ever the insects thus circumstanced were exposed to a current 
of air, either naturally or artificially produced, they directly 
turned the thorax towards the quarter whence it came, even 
when it was so slight as scarcely to be perceptible, and eleva- 
ting the abdomen, they emitted from their spinners a small por- 
tion of glutinous matter, which was instantly carried out in a 
line, consisting of four finer ones, with a velocity equal, or nearly 



* Loudon's Mag. of Nat. Hist., vol. i. p. 322. 
t Experim. Researches in Nat. Hist., p. 136 
t Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. i. p. 324. 



148 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

so, to that with which the air moved, as was apparent from 
observations made on the motion of detached lines similarly 
expose/!. The spiders, in the next place, carefully ascertained 
whether their lines had become firmly attached to any object 
or not, by pulling at them with the front pair of legs ; and if 
the result was satisfactory, after tightening them sufficiently, 
they made them pass to the twig ; then discharging from their 
spinners, which they applied to the spot where they stood, a 
little more of their liquid gum, and committing themselves to 
these bridges of their own constructing, they passed over them 
in safety, drawing a second line after them, as a security in case 
the first gave way, and so effected their escape. 

1 Such was invariably the result when spiders were placed 
where the air was liable to be sensibly agitated : I resolved, there- 
fore, to put a bell-glass over them ; and in this situation they re- 
mained seventeen days, evidently unable to produce a single 
line by which they could quit the branch they occupied, with- 
out encountering the water at its base ; though, on the removal 
of the glass, they regained their liberty with as much celerity 
as in the instances already recorded. 

' This experiment, which, from want of due precaution, has 
misled so many distinguished naturalists, I have tried with sev- 
eral geometric spiders, and always with the same success*.' " 

Mr. Blackwall, from subsequent experiments, says he is 
" confident in affirming, that in motionless air, spiders have not 
the power of darting their threads even through the space of 
half an inchf." The following details are given in confirma- 
tion of this opinion. Mr. Blackwall observed, the 1st of Oct., 
1826, a little before noon, with the sun shining brightly, no 
wind stirring, and the thermometer in the shade ranging from 
55°. 5 to 64°, a profusion of shining lines crossing each other at 
every angle, forming a confused net-work, covering the fields 
and hedges, and thickly coating his feet and ankles, as he 
walked across a pasture. He was more struck with the pheno- 
menon because on the previous day a strong gale of wind had 
blown from the south, and as gossamer is only seen in calm 

* Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 456. t Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. ii. p. 397. 



SILKEN MATERIAL OP THE SPIDER. 149 

weather, it must have been all produced within a very short 

time. 

" What more particularly arrested my attention," says Mr. 
Blackwall, " was the ascent of an amazing quantity of webs 
of an irregular, complicated structure, resembling ravelled 
silk of the finest quality, and clearest white ; they were of 
various shapes and dimensions, some of the largest measur- 
ing upwards of a yard in length, and several inches in 
breadth in the widest part; while others were almost as 
broad as long, presenting an area of a few square inches 

only. 

" These webs, it was quickly perceived, were not formed in 
the air, as is generally believed, but at the earth's surface. 
The lines of which they were composed, being brought into 
contact by the mechanical action of gentle airs, adhered to- 
gether, till, by continual additions, they were accumulated into 
flakes or masses of considerable magnitude, on which the as- 
cending current, occasioned by the rarefaction of the air con- 
tiguous to the heated ground, acted with so much force as to 
separate them from the objects to which they were attached, 
raising them in the atmosphere to a perpendicular height of at 
least several hundred feet. I collected a number of these webs 
about mid-day, as they rose ; and again in the afternoon, when 
the upward current had ceased, and they were falling ; but 
scarcely one in twenty contained a spider : though, on minute 
inspection, I found small winged insects, chiefly aphides, en- 
tangled in most of them. 

" From contemplating this unusual display of gossamer, my 
thoughts were naturally directed to the animals which pro- 
duced it, and the countless myriads in which they swarmed al- 
most created as much surprise as the singular occupation that 
engrossed them. Apparently actuated by the same impulse, 
all were intent upon traversing the regions of air ; accordingly, 
after gaining the summits of various objects, as blades of 
grass, stubble, rails, gates, \c, by the slow and laborious 
process of climbing, they raised themselves still higher by 
strengthening their limbs ; and elevating the abdomen, by 
bringing it from the usual horizontal position into one al- 



150 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

most perpendicular, they emitted from, their spinning appa 
rains a small quantity of the glutinous secretion ivith which 
they construct their webs. This viscous substance being 
drawn out by the ascending current of rarefied air into fine 
lines several feet in length, was carried upward, until the spi- 
ders, feeling themselves acted upon with sufficient force in that 
direction, quitted their hold of the objects on which they stood, 
and commenced their journey by mounting aloft. 

" Whenever the lines became inadequate to the purpose for 
which they were intended, by adhering to any fixed body, they 
were immediately detached from the spinners and so converted 
into terrestrial gossamer, by means of the last pair of legs, and 
the proceedings just described were repeated; which plainly 
proves that these operations result from a strong desire felt by 
the insects to effect an ascent*." Mr. Blackwall has recently 
read a paper (still unpublished) in the Linnsean Society, confir- 
matory of his opinions. 

6. " Without going into the particulars," says Mr. Rennie, 
" of what agrees or disagrees in the above experiments with 
our own observations, we shall give a brief account of what 
we have actually seen in our researches. So far as we have 
determined, then, all the various species of spiders, how differ- 
ent soever the form of their webs may be, proceed in the circum- 
stance of shooting their lines precisely alike ; but those which 
we have found the most manageable in experimenting, are the 
small gossamer spider (Aranea obtextrix, Bechstein), known 
by its shining blackish-brown body and reddish-brown semi- 
transparent legs ; but particularly the long-bodied spider ( Te- 
tragnatha extensa, Latr.), which varies in color from green 
to brownish or grey — but has always a black line along - the 
belly, with a silvery white or yellowish one on each side. The 
latter is chiefly recommended by being a very industrious and 
persevering spinner, while its movements are easily seen, from 
the long cylindrical form of its body and the length of its legs. 

" We placed the above two species with five or six others, in- 
cluding the garden, the domestic, and the labyrinthic spiders, 

* Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 453. 



SILKEN MATERIAL OP THE SPIDER. 151 

in empty wine-glasses, set in tea-saucers filled with water, to 
prevent their escape. When they discovered, by repeated de- 
scents from the brims of the glasses, that they were thus sur- 
rounded by a wet ditch, they all set themselves to the task of 
throwing their silken bridges across. For this purpose they 
first endeavored to ascertain in what direction the wind blew, 
or rather (as the experiment was made in our study) which 
way any current of air set, — by elevating their arms as we 
have seen sailors do in a dead calm. But, as it may prove 
more interesting to keep to one individual, we shall first watch 
the proceedings of the gossamer spider. 

" Finding no current of air on any quarter of the brim of the 
glass, it seemed to give up all hopes of constructing its bridge 
of escape, and placed itself in the attitude of repose ; but no 
sooner did we produce a stream of air, by blowing- gently 
towards its position, than, fixing a thread to the glass, and 
laying hold of it with one of its feet, by way of security, it 
placed its body in a vertical position, with its spinnerets ex- 
tended outwards ; and immediately we had the pleasure of 
seeing a thread streaming out from them several feet in 
length, on which the little aeronaut sprung up into the air. 
We were convinced, from what we thus observed, that it was 
the double or bend of the thread which was blown into the 
air ; and we assigned as a reason for her previously attaching 
and drawing out a thread from the glass, the wisli to give the 
wind a point d'appui — something upon which it might have 
a purchase, as a mechanic would say of a lever. The bend 
of the thread, then, on this view of the matter, would be car- 
ried out by the wind, — would form the point of impulsion, — and, 
of course, the escape bridge would be an ordinary line doubled." 

Such is the opinion of Mr. Rennie, which is strongly corrobo- 
rated by what has been said by M. Latreille — than whom no 
higher authority could be given. " When the animal," says 
he, " desires to cross a brook, she fixes to a tree or some other 
object one of the ends of her first threads, in order that the wind 
or a current of air may carry the other beyond the obstacle* ;" 

* " L'un des bouts de ces premiers fils, afin que le vent ou un courant 



152 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

and as one end is always attached to the spinnerets, he must 
mean that the double of the thread flies off. In his previous 
publications, however, Latreille had contented himself with 
copying the statement of Dr. Lister. " In order to ascertain 
the fact," says Mr. Rennie, " and put an end to all doubts, we 
watched, with great care and minuteness, the proceedings of 
the long-bodied spider above mentioned, by producing a stream 
of air in the same manner, as it perambulated the brim of the 
glass. It immediately, as the other had done, attached a thread 
and raised its body perpendicularly, like a tumbler standing on 
his hands with his head downwards ; but we looked in vain for 
this thread bending, as we had at first supposed, and going off 
double. Instead of this it remained tight, while another thread, 
or what appeared to be so, streamed off from the spinners, simi- 
lar to smoke issuing through a pin-hole, sometimes in a line, 
and sometimes at a considerable angle, with the first, according 
to the current of the air, — the first thread, extended from the 
glass to the spinnerets, remaining all the while tight drawn in 
a right line. It further appeared to us, that the first thread 
proceeded from the pair of spinnerets nearest the head, while 
the floating thread came from the outer pair, — though it is 
possible in such minute objects we may have been deceived. 
That the first was continuous with the second, without any 
perceptible joining, we ascertained in numerous instances, by 
catching the floating line and pulling it tight, in which case 
the spider glides along without attaching another line to the 
glass ; but if she have to coil up the floating line to lighten it, 
as usually happens, she gathers it into a packet and glues the 
two ends tight together. Her body, while the floating line 
streamed out, remained quite motionless, but we distinctly 
saw the spinnerets not only projected, as is always done when 
a spider spins, but moved in the same way as an infant moves 
its lips when sucking. We cannot doubt, therefore, that this 
motion is intended to emit (if eject or project be deemed words 
too strong), the liquid material of the thread ; at the same time, 

d'air pousse l'autre extremite de Pun d'eux au de la de l'obstacle." — Diet. Clas- 
sique d'Hist. Nat., vol. i. p. 510. 



SILKEN MATERIAL OP THE SPIDER. 153 

we are quite certain that it cannot throw out a single inch of 
thread without the aid of a current of air. A long-bodied 
spider will thus throw out in succession as many threads as we 
please, by simply blowing towards it ; but not one where there 
is no current, as under a bell-glass, where it may be kept till it 
die, without being able to construct a bridge over water of an 
inch long. We never observed more than one floating thread 
produced at the same time ; though other observers mention 
several. 

" The probable commencement, we think, of the floating line, 
is by the emission of little globules of the glutinous material to 
the points of the spinnerules — perhaps it may be dropped from 
them, if not ejected, and the globules being carried off by the 
current of air, drawn out into a thread. But we give this as 
only a conjecture, for we could not bring a glass of sufficient 
power to bear upon the spinnerules at the commencement of 
the floating line. 

" In subsequent experiments we found, that it was not indis- 
pensable for the spider to rest upon a solid body when producing 
a line, as she can do so while she is suspended in the air by 
another line. When the current of air also is strong, she will 
sometimes commit herself to it by swinging from the end of the 
line. We have even remarked this when there was scarcely a 
breath of air. 

" We tried another experiment. We pressed pretty firmly 
upon the base of the spinnerets, so as not to injure the spider, 
blowing obliquely over them ; but no floating line appeared. 
We then touched them with a pencil and drew out several 
lines an inch or two in length, upon which we blew in order to 
extend them, but in this also we were unsuccessful, as they did 
not lengthen more than a quarter of an inch. We next traced 
out the reservoirs of a garden-spider (Epeira diadema), and 
immediately taking a drop of the matter from one of them on 
the point of a fine needle, we directed upon it a strong current 
of air, and succeeded in blowing out a thick yellow line, as we 
might have done with gum-water, of about an inch and a half 
long. 

" When we observed our long-bodied spider eager to throw a 

20 



154 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

line by raising up its body, we brought within three inches of 
its spinnerets an excited stick of sealing-wax, of which it took 
no notice, nor did any thread extend to it, not even when 
brought almost to touch the spinnerets. We experienced the 
same want of success with an excited glass rod ; and indeed 
had not anticipated any other result, as we have never observed 
that either these attract or repel the floating threads, as Mr. 
Murray has seen them do ; nor have we ever noticed the end 
of a floating thread separated into its component threadlets and 
diverging like a brush, as he and Mr. Bowman describe (See 
Fig. 11.). It may be proper to mention that Mr. Murray, in 
conformity with his theory, explains the shooting of lines in a 
current of air by the electric state produced by motion in con- 
sequence of the mutual friction of the gaseous particles. But 
this view of the matter does not seem to affect our state- 
ments." 

Nests, Webs, and Nets of Spiders. — " The neatest," 
says Mr. Rennie, " though the smallest spider's nest which 
we have seen, was constructed in the chink of a garden- 
post, which we had cut out the previous summer in getting 
at the cells of a carpenter-bee. The architect was one of the 
larger hunting-spiders, erroneously said by some naturalists to 
be incapable of spinning. The nest in question was about 
two inches high, composed of a very close satin-like texture. 
There were two parallel chambers placed perpendicularly, in 
which position also the inhabitant reposed there during the day, 
going, as we presume, only abroad to prey during the night. 
But the most remarkable circumstance was, that the openings 
(two above and two below) were so elastic, that they shut close- 
ly together. We observed this spider for several months, but 
at last it disappeared, and we took the nest out under the no- 
tion that it might contain eggs ; but found none, and therefore 
concluded that it was only used as a day retreat." The ac- 
count which Evelyn has given of these hunting spiders is so 
interesting that we must transcribe it. 

" Of all sorts of insects," says he, " none have afforded 
me more divertisement than the venatores (hunters), which 
are a sort of lupi (wolves) that have their dens in rugged 



SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 155 

walls and crevices of our houses ; a small brown and delicately- 
spotted kind of spiders, whose hinder legs are longer than the 
rest. Such I did frequently observe at Rome, which, espying 
a fly at three or four yards distance, upon the balcony where I 
stood, would not make directly to her, but crawl under the 
rail, till being arrived to the antipodes, it would steal up, 
seldom missing its aim; but if it chanced to want anything 
of being perfectly opposite, would, at first peep, immediate- 
ly slide down again, — till taking better notice, it would 
come the next time exactly upon the fly's back : but if this 
happened not to be within a competent leap, then would this 
insect move so softly, as the very shadow of the gnomon 
seemed not to be more imperceptible, unless the fly moved ; 
and then would the spider move also in the same proportion, 
keeping that just time with her motion, as if the same soul 
had animated both these little bodies ; and whether it were 
forwards, backwards, or to either side, without at all turn- 
ing her body, like a well-managed horse : but if the capri- 
cious fly took wing and pitched upon another place behind 
our huntress, then vjould the spider ivhirl its body so nimbly 
about, as nothing could be imagined more swift : by which 
means she always kept the head towards her prey, though, 
to appearance, as immoveable as if it had been a nail driven 
into the wood, till by that indiscernible progress {being ar- 
rived within the sphere of her reach) she made a fatal leap, 
swift as lightning, upon the fly, catching him in the pole, 
where she never quitted hold till her belly was full, and then 
carried the remainder home? 

One feels a little sceptical, however, when he adds, " I have 
beheld them instructing their young ones how to hunt, which 
they would sometimes discipline for not well observing; but 
when any of the old ones did (as sometimes) miss a leap, they 
would run out of the field and hide themselves in their cran- 
nies, as ashamed, and haply not to be seen abroad for four 
or five hours after ; for so long have I watched the nature of 
this strange insect, the contemplation of whose so wonderful 
sagacity and address has amazed me ; nor do I find in any 
chase whatsoever more cunning and stratagem observed. I 



156 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

have found some of these spiders in my garden, when the 
weather, towards spring, was very hot, but they are not so 
eager in hunting as in Italy*." 

We have only to add to this lively narrative, that the hunt- 
ing-spider, when he leaps, takes good care to provide against 
accidental falls by always swinging himself from a good strong 
cable of silk, as Swammerdam correctly statest, and which any- 
body may recognise, as one of the small hunters (Salticus 
scenicus), known by its back striped with black and white like 
a zebra. 

Mr. Weston, the editor of " Bloomfield's Remains," falls into 
a very singular mistake about hunting-spiders, imagining them 
to be web-weaving ones which have exhausted their materials, 
and are therefore compelled to hunt. In proof of this he gives 
an instance which came under his own observation! ! 

" As a contrast," says Mr. Rennie, " to the little elastic satin 
nest of the hunter, we may mention the largest with which we 
are acquainted, — that of the labyrinthic spider (Agelena laby- 
rinthica, Walckenaer). Our readers must often have seen 
this nest spread out like a broad sheet in hedges, furze, and 
other low bushes, and sometimes on the ground. The middle 
of this sheet, which is of a close texture, is swung like a sail- 
or's hammock, by silken ropes extended all around to the 
higher branches ; but the whole curves upwards and back- 
wards, sloping down to a long funnel-shaped gallery which is 
nearly horizontal at the entrance, but soon winds obliquely till 
it becomes quite perpendicular. This curved gallery is about a 
quarter of an inch in diameter, is much more closely woven 
than the sheet part of the web, and sometimes descends into a 
hole in the ground, though oftener into a group of crowded 
twigs, or a tuft of grass. Here the spider dwells secure, fre- 
quently resting with her legs extended from the entrance of 
the gallery, ready to spring out upon whatever insect may fall 
into her sheet net. She herself can only be caught by getting 
behind her and forcing her out into the web ; but though we 



* Evelyn's Travels in Italy. t Book of Nature, part i. p. 24. 

t Bloomfield's Remains, vol. ii. p. 64, note. 



SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 157 

have often endeavored to make her construct a nest under our 
eye, we have been as unsuccesful as in similar experiments with 
the common house spider (Aranea domestica). 

" The house spider's proceedings were long ago described by 
Homberg, and the account has been copied, as usual, by almost 
every subsequent writer. Goldsmith has, indeed, given some 
strange mis-statements from his own observations, and Bingley 
has added the original remark, that, after fixing its first thread, 
creeping along the wall, and joining it as it proceeds, it ' darts 
itself to the opposite side, where the other end is to be fasten- 
ed* !' Romberg's spider took the more circuitous route of trav- 
elling to the opposite wall, carrying in one of its claws the end 
of the thread previously fixed, lest it should stick in the wrong 
place. This we believe to be the correct statement, for as the 
web is always horizontal, it would seldom answer to commit a 
floating thread to the wind, as is done by other species. Hom- 
berg's spider, after stretching as many fines by way of warp as 
it deemed sufficient between the two walls of the corner which 
it had chosen, proceeded to cross this in the way our weavers do 
in adding the ivoof, with this difference, that the spider's threads 
were only laid on, and not interlaced!". The domestic spiders, 
however, in these modern days, must have forgot this mode of 
weaving, for none of their webs will be found thus regularly 
constructed !" 

The- geometric, or net-working spiders (See Fig. 12. Plate 
IY.) are as.well known as any of the preceding ; almost every 
bush and tree in our gardens and hedge-rows having one or 
more of their nests stretched out in a vertical position between 
adjacent branches. The common garden spider [Epeira dia- 
de??ia), and the long-bodied spider ( Tetragnatha extensa), are 
the best known of this order. 

" The chief care of a spider of this sort," says Mr. Rennie, 
" is, to form a cable of sufficient strength to bear the net she 
means to hang upon it ; and after throwing out a floating line 
as above described, when it catches properly, she doubles and 



* Animal Biography, iii. 470, 471. 

+ Mem. de l'Acad. des Sciences, pour 1707, p. 339. 



158 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

redoubles it with additional threads. On trying its strength she 
is not contented with the test of pulling it with her legs, but 
drops herself down several feet from various points of it, as we 
have often seen, swinging and bobbing with the whole weight 
of her body. She proceeds in a similar manner with the rest 
of the frame of her wheel-shaped net ; and it may be remarked 
that some of the ends of these lines are not simple, but in form 
of a Y, giving her the additional security of two attachments 
instead of one." 

In constructing the body of the nest, the most remarkable 
circumstance is the using of her limbs as a measure, to regu- 
late the distances of her radii or wheel-spokes (See Fig. 12. 
Plate IV., which represents the geometric net of the " Epeira 
diadema"), and the circular meshes interwoven into them. 
These are consequently always proportional to the size of the 
spider. She often takes up her station in the centre, but not 
always, though it is so said by inaccurate writers ; but she as 
frequently lurks in a little chamber constructed under a leaf or. 
other shelter at the corner of her web, ready to dart down upon 
whatever prey may be entangled in her net. The centre of 
the net is said also to be composed of more viscid materials than 
its suspensory lines, — a circumstance alleged to be proved by 
the former appearing under the micoscrope studded with glo- 
bules of gum*. " We have not been able," says Mr. Rennie, 
" to verify this distinction, having seen the suspensory lines as 
often studded in this manner as those in the centre." 

At the commencement of the last century a method was 
discovered in France by Monsieur Bon, of procuring silk from 
spiders' bags, and its use was attempted in the manufacture of 
several articles. Mr. Bon has, however, noticed only two kinds 
of silk-making spiders, and these he has distinguished from 
each other as having either long or short legs, the last variety 
producing the finest quality of raw silk. According to this in- 
genious observer, the silk formed by these insects is equally 
beautiful, strong, and glossy with that formed by the silk-worm. 
When first formed, the color of these spiders' bags is gray, but, 

* Kirby and Spence, Intr. i. 419. 



SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 159 

by exposure to the air, they soon acquire a blackish hue. Other 
spider bags might probably be found of different colors, and af- 
fording silk of better quality, but their scarcity would render 
any experiment with them difficult of accomplishment; for 
which reason M. Bon confined his attention to the bags of the 
common sort of the short-legged kind. 

These always form their bags in some place sheltered from 
the wind and rain, such as the hollow trunks of trees, the cor- 
ners of windows or vaults, or under the eaves of houses. A 
quantity of the bags was collected from which a new kind of 
silk was made, said to be in no respect inferior to the produce 
of the silk-worm. It took readily all kinds of dyes, and might 
have been wrought into any description of silken fabric. Mr. 
Bon had stockings and gloves made from it, some of which he 
presented to the Royal Academy of Paris, and others he trans- 
mitted to the Royal Society of London. 

This silk was prepared in the following manner : — Twelve or 
thirteen ounces of the bags were beaten with a stick, until they 
became entirely freed from dust. They were next washed in 
warm water, which was continually changed, until it no longer 
became clouded or discolored by the bags under process. After 
this they were steeped in a large quantity of water wherein 
soap, saltpetre, and gum-arabic had been dissolved. The 
whole was then gently boiled during three hours, after which 
the bags were rinsed in clear warm water to discharge the 
soap. They were finally set out to dry, previous to the opera- 
tion of carding, which was then performed with cards differ- 
ing from those usually employed with silk, being much finer. 
By these means silk of a peculiar ash color was obtained, 
which was spun without difficulty. Mr. Bon affirmed that 
the thread was both stronger and finer than common silk, and 
that therefore fabrics similar to those made with the latter ma- 
terial might be manufactured from this, there being no reason 
for doubting that it would stand any trials of the loom, after 
having undergone those of the stocking frame. 

The only obstacle, therefore, which appeared to prevent the 
establishing of any considerable manufacture from these spider 
bags was the difficulty of obtaining them in sufficient abund- 



160 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

ance. Mr. Bon fancied that this objection could soon be over- 
come, and that the art of domesticating and rearing spiders, as 
practised with silk-worms, was to be attained. Carried away 
by the enthusiasm of one who, having made a discovery, pur- 
sues it with ardor undismayed by difficulties, he met every ob- 
jection by comparisons, which perhaps were not wholly and 
strictly founded on fact. Contrasted with the spider, and to 
favor his arguments, the silk-worm in his hands made a very 
despicable figure. He affirmed that the female spider produces 
600 or 700 eggs ; while of the 100, to which number he limit- 
ed the silk-worm, not more than one-half were reared to pro- 
duce balls. That the spiders hatched spontaneously, without 
any care, in the months of August and September ; that the 
old spiders dying soon after they have laid their eggs, the young 
ones live for ten or twelve months without food, and continue 
in their bags without growing, until the hot weather, by put- 
ting their viscid juices in motion, induces them to come forth, 
spin, and run about in search of food. 

Mr. Bon's spider establishment, was managed in the follow- 
ing manner : — having ordered all the short-legged spiders 
which could be collected by persons employed for the purpose, 
to be brought to him, he inclosed them in paper coffins and 
pots ; these were covered with papers, which, as well as the 
coffins, were pricked over their surface with pin-holes to admit 
air to the prisoners. The insects were duly fed with flies, and 
after some time it was found on inspection that the greater 
part of them had formed their bags. This advocate for the 
rearing of spiders contended that spiders' bags afforded much 
more silk in proportion to their weight than those of the silk- 
worm; in proof of which he observed, that thirteen ounces 
yield nearly four ounces of pure silk, two ounces of which were 
sufficient to make a pair of stockings ; whereas stockings made 
of common silk were said by him to weigh seven or eight 
ounces. 

It was objected by some of Mr. Bon's contemporaries, that 
spiders were venomous ; and this is so far true that a bite from 
some of the species is very painful, producing as much swelling 
as the smart sting of a nettle. Mr. Bon, however, asserted that 



SILKEN MATERIAL OP THE SPIDER. 161 

he was several times bitten, without experiencing any inconve- 
nience ; if so, he was more fortunate or less sensitive than any 
of the spider-tamers with whom we have been acquainted. It 
was further asserted, that this venom extended itself to the silk 
which the spider produced ; but this assertion was utterly ab- 
surd, as any one who has ever applied a cobweb to stop the 
bleeding from a cut ought to have known. Mr. Bon declared 
with perfect truth, that the silk, so far from being pernicious, 
was useful in staunching and healing wounds, its natural glu- 
ten acting as a kind of balsam. 

The honest enthusiasm of the projector, and the singularity 
of a regular establishment being formed for rearing and work- 
ing spiders, excited a considerable share of public attention. It 
was, indeed, an age of strange speculations, for nearly at the 
same time a German gentleman broached a scheme for turn- 
ing tame squirrels and mice to account in spinning ; and com- 
panies were formed in England, with large nominal capitals to 
carry out schemes still more preposterous. So important did 
Mr. Bon's project appear to the French Academy, that they 
deputed the eminent naturalist, M. Reaumur, to investigate 
the merits of this new silk-filament. 

After a long and patient examination M. Reaumur stated the 
following objections to Mr. Bon's plan for raising spider-silk, 
which have ever since been regarded as insurmountable. 

1. The natural fierceness of spiders renders them unfit to be 
bred together. On distributing four or five thousand of these 
insects into cells or companies of from fifty to one or two hun- 
dred, it was found that the larger spiders quickly killed and 
ate the smaller, so that in a short space of time the cells were 
depopulated, scarcely more than one or two being found in each 
cell. 

2. The silk of the spider is inferior to that of the silk-worm 
both in lustre and strength ; and produces less material in pro- 
portion, than can be made available for the purposes of the 
manufacture. The filament of the spider's-bag can support a 
weight of only thirty-six grains, while that of the silk-worm 
will sustain a weight of one hundred and fifty grains. Thus 
four or five threads of the spider must be brought together to 

21 



162 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP SILK. 

equal one thread of the silk-worm, and as it is impossible that 
these should be applied so accurately over each other as not to 
leave little vacant spaces between them, the light is not equally 
reflected, and the lustre of the material is consequently inferior 
to that in which a solid thread is used. 

3. A great disadvantage of the spider's silk is, that it cannot 
be wound off the ball like that of the silk-worm, but must ne- 
cessarily be carded. By this latter process, its evenness, which 
contributes so materially to its lustre, is destroyed. 

The ferociousness and pugnacity of the spiders are not ex- 
aggerated ; they fight like furies. Their voracity, too, is al- 
most incredible, and it is very questionable whether the mere 
collection of flies sufficient to feed a large number of the spi- 
ders would not involve an amount of expense fatal to the proj- 
ect as a lucrative undertaking. The strength of the spiders' 
filament is, if anything, overstated by Reaumur. Deficiency 
of lustre arising from the carding of the filaments is common 
to the spider-fabric and to spun silk ; this objection would, per- 
haps, not be of very great weight but for the decisive calcula- 
tion by which Reaumur showed the comparative amount of 
production between the spider and the silk-worm. 

The largest cocoons weigh four, and the smaller three grains 
each ; spider-bags do not weigh above one grain each ; and, 
after being cleared of their dust, have lost two-thirds of this 
weight ; therefore the work of twelve spiders equals that of 
only one silk-worm ; and a pound of spider-silk would require 
for its production 27,648 insects. But as the bags are wholly 
the work of the females, who spin them as a deposit for their 
eggs, it follows that 55,296 spiders must be reared to yield one 
pound of silk: yet this will be obtained only from the best 
spiders ; those large ones ordinarily seen in gardens, &c, yield- 
ing not more than a twelfth part of the silk of the others. 
The work of 280 of these would therefore not yield more silk 
than the produce of one industrious silk-worm, and 663,552 of 
them would furnish only one pound of silk ! 

Although Reaumur's report completely extinguished Mr. 
Bon's project in France, it was revived in England two or 
three times in the early part of the last century. Swift has 



SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER 163 

not neglected to make it a portion of his unrivalled satire 
against speculators and projectors, in his account of Gulliver's 
visit to the Academy of Lagado : 

" I went into another room, says he, where the walls and ceilings were all hung 
round with cohwebs, exept a narrow passage for the artist to go in and out. At 
my entrance he called out to me not to disturb his webs. He lamented the fatal 
mistake the world had been so long in, of using silk-worms, while we had such 
plenty of domestic insects, who infinitely excelled the former, because they under- 
stood how to weave as well as spin. And he proposed further, that, by employing 
spiders, the charge of dyeing silk should be wholly saved ; whereof I was fully 
convinced, when he showed me a vast number of flies most beautifully colored, 
wherewith he fed his spiders, assuring us that the webs would take a tincture from 
them, and as he had them of all hues, he hoped to suit every body's fancy, as soon 
as he could find proper food for the flies, of certain gums, oils, and other glutinous 
matter to give a strength and consistency to the threads." 

The Ingenuity of Spiders. — Mr. Thomas Ewbank of 
New York, in a letter to the Editor of the Journal of the 
Franklin Institute, bearing date September 20th 1842, gives us 
the following interesting description of the ingenuity of the 
Spider. 

" The resources of the lower animals have often excited admi- 
ration, and though no comprehensive and systematic series of 
observations have yet been made upon them(?), the time is, I 
believe, not distant when the task will be undertaken — perhaps 
within the next century. But whenever and by whomsoever 
accomplished, the mechanism of animals will then form the. 
subject of one of the most interesting and useful volumes in 
the archives of man. 

"Among insects, spiders have repeatedly been observed to 
modify and change their contrivances for ensnaring their 
prey. Those that live in fields and gardens often fabricate 
their nets or webs vertically. This sometimes occurs in loca- 
tions where there is no object sufficiently near to which the 
lower edge or extremity of the web can properly be braced ; 
and unless this be done, light puffs or breezes of wind are apt 
to blow it into an entangled mass. Instead of being spread out, 
like the sail of a ship, to the wind, it would become clewed over 
the upper line, or edge, like a sail when furled up. Now how 
would a human engineer act under similar circumstances 1 But 



164 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP SILK. 

ere the reader begins to reflect(!) ; he should bear in mind that 
it would not do to brace the web by running rigging - from it to 
some fixed or immovable object below — by no means ; — for were 
this done, it could not yield to impulses of wind ; the rigging 
would be snapped by the first blast, and the whole structure 
probably destroyed. 

" Whatever contrivances human sagacity might suggest, they 
could hardly excel those which these despised engineers some- 
times adopt. Having formed a web, under circumstances simi- 
lar to those to which we have referred, a spider has been known 
to descend from it to the ground by means of a thread spun for 
the purpose, and after selecting a minute pebble, or piece of 
stone, has coiled the end of the thread round it. Having done 
this, the ingenious artist ascended, and fixing himself on the 
lower part of the web, hoisted up the pebble until it swung sev- 
eral inches clear of the ground. The cord to which the weight 
was suspended was then secured by additional ones, running 
from it to different parts of the web, which thus acquired the 
requisite tension, and was allowed, at the same time, to yield to 
sudden puffs of wind without danger of being rent asunder. 

" A similar instance came under my notice a few days ago. 
A large spider had constructed his web, in nearly a vertical po- 
sition, about six feet from the ground, in a corner of my yard. 
The upper edge was formed by a strong thread, secured at one 
end to a vine leaf, and the other to a clothes line. One part of 
the lower edge was attached to a Penyan sun-flower, and an- 
other to a trellis fence, four or five feet distant. Between these 
there was no object nearer than the ground, to which an addi- 
tional brace line could be carried ; but two threads, a foot asun- 
der, descended from this part of the web, and, eight or ten inches 
below it, were united at a point. From this point, a single line, 
four or five inches long, was suspended, and to its lower extrem- 
ity was the weight, a living one, viz. a worm, three inches 
long, and one-eighth of an inch thick. The cord was fasten- 
ed around the middle of the victim's body, and as no object was 
within reach, all its writhings and efforts to escape were fruit- 
less. Its weight answered the same purpose as a piece of in- 
animate matter, while its sufferings seemed not in the least to 



SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 165 

disturb the unconcerned murderer, who lay waiting for his prey- 
above. 

" Whether the owner of the web found it a more easy task 
to capture this unlucky worm and raise it, than to elevate a 
stone of the same weight, may be a question(?). Perhaps in 
seeking for the latter, the former fell in his way, and was seized 
as the first suitable object that came to hand— like the human 
t}Tant, (Domitian) who, to show his skill in archery, planted 
his arrows in the heads of men or cattle, in the absence of other 
targets. It may be, however, that a piece of stone, earth, or 
wood, of a suitable weight, was not in the vicinity of the web. 

" To observe the effect of this weight, I separated, with a 
pair of scissors, the thread by which it was suspended, and in- 
stantly the web sunk to half its previous dimensions— the lower 
part became loose, and with the slightest current kept shaking 
like a sail shivering in the wind. A fresh weight was not sup- 
plied by the next morning ; but instead of it two long brace 
lines extended from the lower part of the web to two vine ten- 
drils, a considerable distance off. These I cut away to see what 
device would be next adopted, but on going to examine it the 
following day, I found the clothes line removed, and with it all 
relics of the insect's labors had disappeared." 

Mason-Spiders. — A no less wonderful structure is com- 
posed by a sort of spiders, natives of the tropics and the south 
of Europe, which have been justly called mason-spiders by M. 
Latreille. One of these {My gale nidulans, Walckn.), found 
in the West Indies, " digs a hole in the earth obliquely down- 
wards, about three inches in length, and one in diameter. 
This cavity she lines with a tough thick web, which, when 
taken out, resembles a leathern purse ; but what is most curi- 
ous, this house has a door with hinges, like the operculum of 
some sea-shells, and herself and family, who tenant this nest, 
open and shut the door whenever they pass and repass. This 
history was told me," says Darwin, " and the nest, with its door, 
shown me by the late Dr. Butt, of Bath, who was some years 
physician in Jamaica*." 



* Darwin's Zoonomia, i. 253, 8vo. eA 



166 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

" The nest of a mason-spider, similar to this," -says Mr. Ren- 
nie, " has been obligingly put into our hands by Mr. Riddle of 
Blackheath. It came from the West Indies, and is probably 
that of Latreille's clay-kneader {My gale cratiens), and one of 
the smallest of the genus. We have since seen a pair of these 
spiders in possession of Mr. William Mello, of Blackheath. 
The nest is composed of very hard argillaceous clay, deeply 
tinged with brown oxide of iron. It is in form of a tube, about 
one inch in diameter, between six and seven inches long, and 
slightly bent towards the lower extremity — appearing to have 
been mined into the clay rather than built. The interior of 
the tube is lined with a uniform tapestry of silken web, of 
an orange-white color, with a texture intermediate between 
India paper and very fine glove leather. But the most won- 
derful part of this nest is its entrance, which we look upon as 
the perfection of insect architecture. A circular door, about 
the size of a crown piece, slightly concave on the outside and 
convex within, is formed of more than a dozen layers of the 
same web which fines the interior, closely laid upon one an- 
other, and shaped so that the inner layers are the broadest, the 
outer being gradually less in diameter, except towards the 
hinge, which is about an inch long ; and in consequence of all 
the layers being united there, and prolonged into the tube, it 
becomes the thickest and strongest part of the structure. The 
elasticity of the materials, also, gives to this hinge the remark- 
able peculiarity of acting like a spring, and shutting the door 
of the nest spontaneously. It is, besides, made to fit so accu- 
rately to the aperture, which is composed of similar concentric 
layers of web, that it is almost impossible to distinguish the 
joining by the most careful inspection. To gratify curiosity, 
the door has been opened and shut hundreds of times, without 
in the least destroying the power of the spring. When the 
door is shut, it resembles some of the lichens (Lecidea), or the 
leathery fungi, such as Polyporus versicolor (Micheli), or, 
nearer still, the upper valve of a young oyster-shell. The door 
of the nest, the only part seen above ground, being of a black- 
ish-brown color, it must be very difficult to discover." 

Another mason-spider {Mygale ccemeataria, Latr.), found 



SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 167 

in the south of France, usually selects for her nest a place bare 
of grass, sloping in such a manner as to carry off the water, 
and of a firm soil, without rocks or small stones. She digs a 
gallery a foot or two in depth, and of a diameter (equal 
throughout) sufficient to admit of her easily passing. She 
lines this with a tapestry of silk glued to the walls. The 
door, which is circular, is constructed of many layers of earth 
kneaded, and bound together with silk. Externally, it is flat 
and rough, corresponding to the earth around the entrance, for 
the purpose, no doubt, of concealment : on the inside it is con- 
vex, and tapestried thickly with a web of fine silk. The 
threads of this door- tapestry are prolonged, and strongly attach- 
ed to the upper side of the entrance, forming an excellent 
hinge, which, when pushed open by the spider, shuts again by 
its own weight, without the aid of spring hinges. When the 
spider is at home, and her door forcibly opened by an intruder, 
she pulls it strongly inwards, and even where half-opened often 
snatches it out of the hand ; but when she is foiled in this, she 
retreats to the bottom of her den, as her last resource*. The 
nest of this spider (the mason spider) is represented in Plate 
IV. Fig. 14., and shows the nest shut. Fig. 15., represents it 
open, Fig. 16. the spider (My gale ccementaria). Fig. 17. 
the eyes magnified. Figures 18 and 19 parts of the foot and 
claw magnified. Rossi ascertained that the female of an allied 
species (My gale sauvagesii, Latr.), found in Corsica, lived in 
one of these nests, with a numerous posterity. He destroyed 
one of the doors to observe whether a new one would be made, 
which it was ; but it was fixed immoveably, without a hinge ; 
the spider, no doubt, fortifying herself in this manner till she 
thought she might re-open it without danger?". 

" The Rev. Revett Shepherd has often noticed, in the fen 
ditches of Norfolk, a very large spider (the species not yet de- 
termined) which actually forms a raft for the purpose of ob- 
taining its prey with more facility. Keeping its station upon a 



* Mem. Soc. d'Hist. Nat. de Paris, An. vii. 

t Mem. Soe. d'Hist. Nat. de Paris, An. vii. p. 125, and Latreille, Hist. Nat. 
Gener. viii. p. 163. 



168 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP SILK. 

ball of weeds about three inches in diameter, probably held to- 
gether by slight silken cords, it is wafted along the surface of 
the water upon this floating island, which it quits the moment 
it sees a drowning insect. The booty thus seized it devours at 
leisure upon its raft, under which it retires when alarmed by 
any danger*." In the spring of 1830, Mr. Rennie found a spi- 
der on some reeds in the Croydon Canal, which agreed in ap- 
pearance with Mr. Shepherd's. 

Among our native spiders there are several, which, not con- 
tented with a web like the rest of their congeners, take advan- 
tage of other materials to construct cells where, " hushed in 
grim, repose" they " expect their insect prey." The most 
simple of those spider cells is constructed by a longish-bodied 
spider (Aranea holosericea, Linn.), which is a little larger 
than the common hunting spider. It rolls up a leaf of the lilac 
or poplar, precisely in the same manner as is done by the leaf- 
rolling caterpillars, upon whose cells it sometimes seizes to save 
itself trouble, having first expelled, or perhaps devoured, the 
rightful owner. The spider, however, is not satisfied with the 
tapestry of the caterpillar, but always weaves a fresh set of 
her own, more close and substantial. 

Another spider, common in woods and copses {Epeira quad- 
rata ?) weaves together a great number of leaves to form a 
dwelling for herself, and in front of it she spreads her toils for 
entrapping the unwary insects which stray thither. These, as 
soon as caught, are dragged into her den, and stored up for a 
time of scarcity. Here also her eggs are deposited and hatched 
in safety. When the cold weather approaches, and the leaves 
of her edifice wither, she abandons it for the more secure shel- 
ter of a hollow tree, where she soon dies ; but the continuation 
of the species depends upon eggs, deposited in the nest before 
winter, and remaining to be hatched with the warmth of the 
ensuing summer. 

The spider's den of united leaves, however, which has just 
been described, is not always useless when withered and de- 
serted ; for the dormouse usually selects it as a ready-made 

* Kirby and Spence, Iiitr. i. 425. 



SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 169 

roof for its nest of dried grass. That those old spiders' dens 
are not accidentally chosen by the mouse, appears from the 
fact, that out of about a dozen mouse-nests of this sort found 
during winter in a copse between Lewisham and Bromley, 
Kent (England), every second or third one was furnished with 
such a roof. 

The Water Spider. — We extract the following exqui- 
sitely beautiful and interesting fact in nature, connected with 
diving operations, from the Rev. Mr. Kirby's Bridgewater 
Treatise : — 

"The Water Spider is one of the most remarkable upon 
whom that office (diving) is developed by her Creator. To 
this end, her instinct instructs her to fabricate a kind of diving- 
bell in the bosom of that element. She usually selects still 
waters for this purpose. Her house is an oval cocoon, filled 
with air, and lined with silk, from which threads issue in every 
direction, and are fastened to the surrounding plants ; in this 
cocoon, which is open below, she watches for her prey, and even 
appears to pass the winter, when she closes the opening. It is 
most commonly, yet not always, entirely under water ; but its 
inhabitant has filled it with air for her respiration, which ena- 
bles her to live in it. She conveys the air to it in the following 
manner : she usually swims upon her back, when her abdomen 
is enveloped in a bubble of air, and appears like a globe of 
quicksilver* ; with this she enters her cocoon, and displacing an 



* Her singular economy was first, we believe, described by Clerck (Aranei 
Suecici, Stockholm, 1757.), L- M. de Lignac (Mem. des Araign. Aquat., 12mo. 
Paris, 1799.), and De Geer. 

" The shining appearance," says Clerck, " proceeds either from an inflated 
globule surrounding the abdomen, or from the space between the body and the 
water. The spider, when wishing to inhale the air, rises to the surface, with its 
body still submersed, and only the part containing the spinneret rising just to the 
surface, when it briskly opens and moves its four teats. A thick coat of hair 
keeps the water from approaching or wetting the abdomen. It comes up for air 
about four times an hour or oftener, though I have good reason to suppose it can 
continue without it for several days together. 

" I found in the middle of May one male and ten females, which I put into a 
glass filled with water, where they lived together very quietly for eight days. I 
put some duck-weed (Lcmna) into the glass to afford them shelter, and the fe- 

22 



170 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

equal mass of water, again ascends for a second lading, till 
she has sufficiently filled her house with it, so as to expel all 
the water. 

" The males construct similar habitations by the same ma- 
noeuvres. How these little animals can envelope their abdo- 
men with an air-bubble, and retain it till they enter their cells, 
is still one of Nature's mysteries that have not been explained. 

" We, however, cannot help admiring, and adoring, the wis- 
dom, power, and goodness manifested in this singular provision, 
enabling an animal that breathes the atmospheric air, to fill 
her house with it under water, and which has instructed her in 
a secret art, by which she can clothe part of her body with air 
as a garment, and which she can put off when it answers her 
purpose. 

" This is a kind of attraction and repulsion which mocks all our inquiries." 

Thus it appears, that by the successive descents of the little 
water-spider under the impulsion of its instinct, produce effects 

males began to stretch diagonal threads in a confused manner from it to the sides 
of the glass about half way down. Each of the females afterwards fixed a close 
bag to the edge of the glass, from which the water was expelled by the air from 
the spinneret, and thus a cell was formed capable of containing the whole animal. 
Here they remained quietly, with their abdomens in their cells, and their bodies 
still plunged in the water ; and in a short time brimstone-colored bags of eggs ap- 
peared in each cell, filling it about a fourth part. On the 7th of July several 
young ones swam out from one of the bags. All this time th e old ones had no- 
thing to eat, and yet they never attacked one another, as other spiders would have 
been apt to do (Clerck, Aranei Suecici, cap. viii.)." 

" These spiders," says De Geer, " spin in the water a cell of strong, closely wo- 
ven, white silk in the form of half the shell of a pigeon's egg, or like a diving bell. 
This is sometimes left partly above water, but at others is entirely submersed, and 
is always attached to the objects near it by a great number of irregular threads. 
It is closed all round, but has a large opening below, which, however, I found 
closed on the 15th of December, and the spider living quietly within, with her 
head downwards. I made a rent in this cell, and expelled the air, upon which 
the spider came out ; yet though she appeared to have been laid up for three 
months in her winter quarters, she greedily seized upon an insect and sucked it. 
I also found that the male as well as the female constructs a similar subaqueous 
cell, and during summer no less than in winter (De Geer, Mem. des Insectes, vii. 
312.)." "We have recently kept one of these spiders," says Mr. Rennie, "for 
several months in a glass ol water, where it built a cell half under water, in which 
it laid its eggs." 



SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE SPIDER. 171 

in its subaqueous pavilion equivalent to those produced in the 
diving-bell, or diving helmet, by the successive strokes of the 
condensing air-pump of scientific man ! 

In the language of the book of Psalms, this insect " LAY- 
ETH THE BEAMS OF" her "CHAMBERS IN THE 
WATERS," and there secures her subaqueous chambers in the 
manner described. 

Cleanliness of Spiders. — " When we look at the viscid 
material," says Mr. Rennie, "with which spiders construct their 
lines and webs, and at the rough, hairy covering (with a few 
exceptions) of their bodies, we might conclude, that they would 
be always stuck over with fragments of the minute fibres 
which they produce. This, indeed, must often happen, did 
they not take careful precautions to avoid it ; for we have ob- 
served that they seldom, if ever, leave a thread to float at ran- 
dom, except when they wish to form a bridge. When a spider 
drops along a line, for instance, in order to ascertain the strength 
of her web, or the nature of the place below her, she invari- 
ably, when she re-ascends, coils it up into a little ball, and 
throws it away. Her claws are admirably adapted for this pur- 
pose, as well as for walking along the lines, as may be readily 
seen by a magnifying glass. Fig. 13. Plate 1Y. shows the tri- 
ple-clawed foot of a spider, magnified, the others being toothed 
like a comb, for gliding along the lines. This structure, how- 
ever, unfits it to walk, as flies can do, upon any upright polish- 
ed surface like glass ; although the contrary* is erroneously as- 
serted by the Abbe de la Pluche. Before she can do so, she is 
obliged to construct a ladder of ropes, as Mr. Blackwall re- 
markst, by elevating her spinneret as high as she can, and lay- 
ing down a step upon which she stands to form a second ; and 
so on, as any one may try by placing a spider at the bottom of 
a very clean wine glass. 

," The hairs of the legs, however, are always catching bits of 
web and particles of dust ; but these are not suffered to remain 
long. Most people may have remarked that the house-fly is 
ever and anon brushing its feet upon one another to rub off the 

* Spectacle de la Nature, i. 58. t Linn. Trans, vol. xv. 



172 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

dust, though we have not seen it remarked in authors that spi- 
ders are equally assiduous in keeping themselves clean. They 
have, besides, a very efficient instrument in their mandibles or 
jaws, which, like their claws, are furnished with teeth ; and a 
spider which appears to a careless observer as resting idly, in 
nine cases out of ten will be found slowly combing her legs 
with her mandibles, beginning as high as possible on the 
thigh, and passing down to the claios. The flue which she 
thus combs off is regularly tossed away. 

"With respect to the house-spider (A. domestica), we are 
told in books, that ' she from time to time clears away the dust 
from her web, and sweeps the whole by giving it a shake with 
her paw, so nicely proportioning the force of her blow, that she 
never breaks any thing*.' That spiders may be seen shaking 
their webs in this manner, we readily admit ; though it is not, 
we imagine, to clear them of dust, but to ascertain whether 
they are sufficiently sound and strong. 

" We recently witnessed a more laborious process of cleaning 
a web than merely shaking it. On coming down the Maine 
by the steam-boat from Frankfort, in August 1829, we observed 
the geometric-net of a conic spider [Epeira conica, Walck.) 
on the framework of the deck, and as it was covered with 
flakes of soot from the smoke of the engine, we were surprised 
to see a spider at work on it ; for, in order to be useful, this sort 
of net must be clean. Upon observing it a little closely, how- 
ever, we perceived that she was not constructing a net, but 
dressing up an old one ; though not, we must think, to save 
trouble, so much as an expenditure of material. Some of the 
lines she dexterously stripped of the flakes of soot adhering to 
them ; but in the greater number, finding that she could not 
get them sufficiently clean, she broke them quite off, bundled 
them up, and tossed them over. We counted five of these 
packets of rubbish which she thus threw away, though there 
must have been many more, as it was some time before we dis- 
covered the manoeuvre, the packets being so small as not to be 
readily perceived, except when placed between the eye and the 

* Spectacle de la Nature, i. p. 61. 



-Tiarai ■ 




Spiders, "Willi the processes of Spuming 1 and We; 



SILKEN MATERIAL OP THE SPIDER. 173 

light. When she had cleared off all the sooted lines, she began 
to replace them in the usual way ; but the arrival of the boat 
at Mentz put an end to our observations." Bloomfield, the 
poet, having observed the disappearance of these bits of ravelled 
web, says that he observed a garden spider moisten the pellets 
before swallowing them ! Dr. Lister, as we have already seen, 
thought the spider retracted the threads within the abdomen. 

" I could wish," says Addison, in ' The Spectator,' " our Royal Society would 
compile a body of natural history, the best that could be gathered together from 
books and observations. If the several writers among them took each his partic- 
ular species, and gave us a distinct account of its original, birth, and education; 
its policies, hostilities, and alliances ; with the frame and texture of its inward and 
outward parts, — and particularly those which distinguish it from all other animals, 
— with their aptitudes for the state of being in which Providence has placed them ; 
it would be one of the best services their studies could do mankind, and not a little 
redound to the glory of the All-wise Creator." — ' Spectator,' No. iii. 

Although we do not consider Addison as a naturalist, in any of the usual mean- 
ings of the term, yet it would be no easy task, even for those who have devoted their 
undivided attention to the subject, to improve upon the admirable plan of study here 
laid down. It is, moreover, so especially applicable to the investigation of insects, 
that it may be more or less put in practice by any person who chooses, in whatever 
station or circumstances he happens to be placed. Nay, we will go farther ; for 
since it agrees with experience and many recorded instances that individuals have 
been enabled to investigate and elucidate particular facts, who were quite unacquaint- 
ed with systematic natural history, we hold it to be undeniable, that any person of 
moderate penetration, though altogether unacquainted with what is called "Natu- 
ral History," who will take the trouble to observe particular facts and endeavor to 
trace them to their causes, has every chance to be successful in adding to his own 
knowledge, and frequently in making discoveries of what was previously unknown. 
It is related of M. Pelissan, while a prisoner in the Bastille, that he tamed a spi- 
der by means of music. This in conjunction with Evelyn's observations on hunt- 
ing-spiders is strong proof of our position, and show that though books are often 
of high value to guide us in our observations, they are by no means indispensable 
to the study of nature, inasmuch as the varied scene of creation itself forms an 
inexhaustible book, which " even he who runneth may read." 

" It will be of the utmost importance, in the study here recommended, to bear 
in mind that an insect can never be found in any situation, nor make any move- 
ment, without some motive, originating in the instinct imparted to it by Provi- 
dence. This principle alone, when it is made the basis of inquiry into such mo- 
tives or instincts, will be found productive of many interesting discoveries, which, 
without it, might never be made. With this, indeed, exclusively in view, during 
an excursion, and with a little attention and perseverance, every walk — nay, 
every step — may lead to delightful and interesting knowledge." — " Insect Archi- 
tecture," p. 219. 



CHAPTER X. 



FIBRES OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINNA. 



The Pinna — Description of — Delicacy of its threads — Reaumur's observations — 
Mode of forming the filament or thread — Power of continually producing new 
threads — Experiments to ascertain this fact — The Pinna and its Cancer 
Friend — Nature of their alliance — Beautiful phenomenon — Aristotle and Pliny's 
account — The Greek poet Oppianus's lines on the Pinna, and its Cancer friend 
— Manner of procuring the Pinna — Poli's description — Specimens of the Pinna 
in the British Museum — Pearls found in the Pinna — Pliny and Athenceus's ac- 
count — Manner of preparing the fibres of the Pinna for weaving — Scarceness 
of this material — No proof that the ancients were acquainted with the art 
of knitting — Tertullian the first ancient writer who makes mention of the 
manufacture of cloth from the fibres of the Pinna — Procopius mentions a 
chlamys made of the fibres of the Pinna, and a silken tunic adorned with sprigs 
or feathers of gold — Boots of red leather worn only by Emperors — Golden fleece 
of the Pinna — St. Basil's account — Fibres of the Pinna not manufactured into 
cloth at Tarentum in ancient times, but in India — Diving for the Pinna at Col- 
chi — Arrian's account. 

In the preceding chapter we have confined our remarks, 
principally, to the various attempts made to obtain a silken or 
filamentous material from the spider, and although those efforts 
have not been crowned with that degree of success which would 
render a speculation of the kind worthy of our attention in a 
pecuniary point of view, yet, it must be conceded, that the sub- 
ject is scarcely the less interesting ; and Mr. Bon, the gentle- 
man who first undertook the training of spiders, has at least 
gfven us matter for further interesting speculation. It is now 
about 104 years since Mr. Bon commenced his experiments. 

In this chapter, we shall proceed to describe the Pinna of the 
ancients, and upon which human ingenuity has been more 
successfully exercised in seeking, many feet below the surface 
of the Ocean, for the slender filaments, the produce of an ani- 
mal in almost a vegetative state of existence. 



FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINNA. 175 

The Pinna is a bivalve* shell-fish, which, when full grown, 
is 18 inches long, and 6 wide at its broad end. It is found 
near the shores of South Italy, Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia ; 
also in the Bay of Smyrna, and in the Indian Ocean. It does 
not fasten itself to rocks in the same position as the muscle, but 
sticks its sharp end into the mud or sand, while the rest of the 
shell is at liberty to open in the water. In common with the 
muscle, it has the power of spinning a viscid matter from its 
body, conformably with that of the spider and caterpillar. Al- 
though the pinna is vastly larger than the muscle, its shell be- 
ing sometimes found two feet long, the threads which it produ- 
ces are more delicate and slender than those of the muscle, be- 
ing in fineness and beauty scarcely inferior to the single filament 
of the comparatively minute silk-worm. Threads so delicately 
thin, as may readily be imagined, do not singly possess much 
strength ; but the little power of each is made up by the aggre- 
gate of the almost infinite number which each fish puts forth 
to secure itself in a fixed situation, and preserve it against the 
rolling of the waves. The threads are, however, similar in 
their nature to those of the muscle, differing only in their supe- 
rior fineness and greater length. These fish have, therefore, 
been distinguished by some naturalists, the one as the silk- 
worm, the other as caterpillar of the sea. 

It has been from a very remote period well known, that mus- 
cles have the power of affixing themselves either to rocks or the 
shells of one another, in a very firm manner ; yet their method 
of effecting this was not understood until explained by the accu- 
rate observations of M. Reaumur, the first naturalist who as- 
certained that if, by any accident, the animals were torn from 
their hold, they possessed the power of substituting other threads 
for those which had been broken or injured. It was found by 
him, that if muscles, detached from each other, were placed in 
any kind of vessel and then plunged into the sea, they con- 
trived in a very short time to fasten themselves both to the 
vessel's side and one another's shells : in this process, the ex- 



* An animal having two valves, or a shell consisting of two parts which open 
and shut. 



176 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OP SILK. 

tremity of each thread seemed to perform the office of a hand 
in seizing upon the body to which it would attach itself. 

The threads issue from the shell at that part where it natu- 
rally opens, and in affixing themselves to any substance, form 
numerous minute cables, by which the fish steadies itself in the 
water. Each animal is provided with an organ, which it is 
difficult to designate by any name, since it performs the office 
of so many members, and is the only indicator of the existence 
of vital powers in the creature. It is by turns a tongue, an 
arm, and sometimes a leg. Its shape resembles that of a 
tongue, and is, therefore, most frequently called by that name. 
Whenever the fish requires to change its place, this member 
serves to drag its body forward, together with its cumbrous hab- 
itation : in performing a journey, the extremity of this organ, 
which may then be styled a leg, is fixed to some solid body, 
and being then contracted in length, the whole fish is necessa- 
rily drawn towards the spot where it intends to station itself ; 
and by a repetition of these movements, the animal arrives at 
its destination. It is not often that the organ is put to this use, 
as the pinna is but little addicted to locomotion : some natural- 
ists indeed affirm that it is always stable. The purpose to 
which the tongue is most frequently applied, is that of spinning 
the threads. Although this body is flat, and in form similar to 
a tongue through the greater part of its length, it becomes cy- 
lindrical about the base or root, where it is much smaller than 
in any other part : at this lower end are several ligatures of a 
muscular nature, which keep the tongue firmly fixed against 
the middle of the shell ; four of these cords are very apparent, 
and serve to move the tongue in any direction according to the 
wants of the fish. Through the entire length of this member 
there runs a slit, which pierces so deeply into its surface, as al- 
most to divide it into two longitudinal sections ; this performs the 
office of a canal for the liquor of which the threads are formed, 
and serves to mould them into their proper form : the canal ap- 
pears externally like a small crack, being almost covered by the 
flesh from either side, but internally it is much wider, and sur- 
rounded by circular fibres. The channel thus formed extends 
regularly from the tip to the base of the tongue, where it par- 



FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OP THE PINNA. 177 

takes of the form of the member and becomes cylindric, pro- 
ducing there a tube or pipe in which the canal terminates. The 
viscid substance is moulded in this tube into the shape of a cord, 
similar to the threads produced from it, though much thicker, 
and from which all the minute fibres issue and disperse. The 
internal surface of the tube, wherein the large cord is formed, is 
furnished with glands for the secretion of the peculiar substance 
employed in its production, and which is always in great abun- 
dance in this animal as well as in muscles. 

Reaumur observed, " that although the workmanship of the 
land and sea animals when completed is alike, the manner of 
its production is very different. Spiders, caterpillars, &c, form 
threads of any required length, by making the viscous liquor 
of which the filament is formed pass through fine perforations 
in the organ appointed for spinning. But the way in which 
muscles form their thread is widely opposite ; as the former re- 
sembles the work of the wire-drawer*, so does the latter that of 
the founder who casts metals in a mould." The canal of the 
organ destined for the muscle's spinning is the mould in which 
its thread is cast, and gives to it its determinate length. 

Reaumur learned the manner of the muscle performing the 
operation of swimming by actually placing some of these fish 
under his constant inspection. He kept them in his apartment 
in a vessel filled with sea water, and distinctly saw them open 
their shells and put forth their tongues. They extended and 
contracted this organ several times, obtruding it in every direc- 
tion, as if seeking the fittest place whereon to fix their threads. 
After repeated trials of this kind, the tongue of one was ob- 
served to remain for some time on the spot chosen, and being 
then drawn back with great quickness, a thread was very 



* This remark of M. Reaumur confirms the observations of M. H. Straus, quoted 
in Chapter VII. that the thread of the silk-worm is not produced by a simple emis- 
sion of liquid matter through the orifices of the spinner, or that it acquires solidity 
at once from the drying influence of the air. Indeed, silk cannot be produced in 
this manner, but is secreted in the form of silk in silk vessels, and the spinning 
apparatus, so called, only unwinds it. Mr. Straus's observations on this head ad- 
mit of no argument. The discovery reduces all that has been heretofore written 
upon the subject to the character of old lumber. 

23 



178 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

easily discerned, fastened to the place : this operation was again 
resumed, until all the threads were in sufficient number : one 
fibre being produced at each movement of the tongue. 

The old threads were found to differ materially from those 
newly spun, the latter being whiter, more glossy, and transpa- 
rent than the former, and it was thence discovered that it was 
not the office of the tongue to transfer the old threads one by 
one to the new spots where they were fixed, which course M. 
Reaumur had thought was pursued. The old threads once 
severed from the spot to which they had been originally fixed 
were seen to be useless, and that every fibre employed by the 
fish to secure itself in a new position was produced at the time 
required ; and, in short, that nature had endowed some fish, as 
well as land insects, with the power of spinning threads, as 
their natural wants and instincts demanded. This fact was in- 
controvertibly established by cutting away, as close to the body 
as they could with safety be separated, the old threads, which 
were always replaced by others in a space of time as short as 
was employed by other muscles not so deprived. 

" The pinna and its cancer friend" have on more than one 
occasion been made subjects for poetry. There is doubtless 
some foundation for the fact of the mutual alliance between 
these aquatic friends which has been thus celebrated ; yet some 
slight coloring may have been borrowed from the regions of 
fancy wherewith to adorn the verse, and even the prose history 
of their attachment may be exposed to a similar objection. 

The scuttle-fish, a native of the same seas with the pinna, is 
its deadly foe, and would quickly destroy it, were it not for its 
faithful ally. In common with all the same species, the pinna is 
destitute of the organs of sight, and could not, therefore, unas- 
sisted, be aware of the vicinity of its dangerous enemy. A 
small animal of the crab kind, itself deprived of a covering, but 
extremely quick-sighted, takes refuge in the shell of the pinna, 
whose strong calcareous valves affords a shelter to her guest, 
while he makes a return for this protection by going forth in 
search of prey. At these intervals the pinna opens her valves 
to afford him egress and ingress : if the watchful scuttle-fish 
now approach, the crab returns instanter with notice of the 



FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OP THE PINNA. 179 

danger to her hostess ; who, timely warned, shuts her door and 
keeps out the enemy. When the crab has, unmolested, suc- 
ceeded in loading itself with provisions, it gives a signal by a 
■gentle noise at the opening of the shell, and when admitted, 
the two friends feast together on the fruit of its industry. Ifr 
would appear an arduous, nay, a task almost impossible for the 
defenceless and diminutive crab, not merely to elude its enemies 
and return home, but likewise obtain a supply of provender 
sufficient to satisfy the wants of its larger companion. The 
following different account of the nature of this alliance is more 
credible : — 

Whenever the pinna ventures to open its shell, it is immedi- 
ately exposed to the attacks of various of the smaller kinds of 
fish, which, meeting with no resistance to their first assaults, 
acquire boldness and venture in. The vigilant guard, by a 
gentle bite, gives notice of this to his companion, who, upon 
such a hint, closes her shell, and having thus shut them in 
makes a prey of those who had come to prey upon her : when 
thus supplied with food, she never fails to share her booty with 
so useful an ally. 

We are told that the sagacious observer, Dr. Hasselquist, in 
his voyage, (about the middle of the last century,) to Palestine, 
which he undertook for objects connected with the study of nat- 
ural history, beheld this curious phenomenon, which, although 
well known to the ancients, had escaped the attention of the 
moderns. 

It is related by Aristotle* that the pinna keeps a guard to 
watch for her, which grows to her mouth, and serves as her 
caterer : this he calls pinnophylax, and describes as a little fish 
with claws like a crab. Pliny observes - !", that the smallest spe- 
cies of crab is called the pinnotores, and being from its diminu- 
tive size liable to injury, has the prudence to conceal itself in 
the shells of oysters. In another place he describes the pinna 
as of the genus of shell-fish, with the further particulars that 
it is found in muddy waters, always erect, and never without a 
companion, called by some pinnatores, by others pinnophylax ; 

* Hist. lib. v. c. 15. + Lib. ix. 51. 66. 



180 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

this being sometimes a small squill, and at others a crab, which 
remains with the pinna for the sake of food. 

The description of the pinna by the Greek poet Oppianus, 
who flourished in the second century, has been thus given in 
.English verse : — 

The pinna and the crab together dwell, 

For mutual succor in one common shell ; 

They both to gain a livelihood combine, 

That takes the prey, when this has given the sign ; 

From hence this crab, above his fellows famed, 

By ancient Greeks was Pinnotores named. 

It is said that the pinna fastens itself so strongly to the rocks, 
that the men employed in fishing for it are obliged to use con- 
siderable force to break the tuft of threads by which it is secu- 
red fifteen, twenty, and sometimes even thirty feet below the 
surface of the sea. 

It is fished up in the Gulf of Tarentum by the Perno?iico, 
which consists of two semicircular bars of iron fastened together 
at the ends, at one of which is a wooden pole, at the other a 
ring and cord. The fishermen conduct their boat over the 
place, where the pinna is seen through the clear water, let 
down the Pernonico, and, having loosened the pinna by em- 
bracing it with the iron bars and twisting it round, draw it up 
to the boat. The pinna is also obtained by diving. Poli, in 
his splendid work on the Sicilian Testacea (Parma, 1795, 
folio,) gives beautiful representations of the several species and 
especially of the Pinna Nobilis*. The following description of 
submarine scenery and operations, is so vivid and pleasing that 
we quote it at length. 

Pinnis hujusmodi abundant pras coeteris litus Trinacriae, sinus Tarentinus, 
oraque maritima Crateris Neapolitani, potissimum ultra Promontorium Pausilypi. 
Equidem persumma, adficimur animi jucunditate, quoties illarum piscationis recor- 
damur, quam vere jam inchoato inibi facere iterum iterumque consuevimus. Est 
ad Insulam Nisitse, qua ilia ad septentrionem vergit, respicitque contra Pausilypi 
Promontorium, amoenissimi maris plaga, quoddam maris ocium. Ibi inter in- 
gentes, pulcherrimosque marinarum stirpium saltus, quibus plaga ilia undique 
virescit, oculosque animumque recreat, Pinnarum greges sponte gignuntur ; quee 

* The figure (Fig. 7.) of the Pinna Nobilis, Plate III., is reduced from Plate 
XXXIV. in vol. ii. 



FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINNA. 181 

mari tranquillo, umbrisque ab insula? snmmitate cadentibus, ab iis qui cymbis in- 
sistunt, ad triginta ferme pedum altitudinem, subrecta?, inque fundo arenoso defixa? 
perspicue cerni possunt. Urinatores igitur, sese mari submergentes, illis arripien- 
dis destinantur. Quoniam vero, lie reiteratis quidem ictibus, ab arena, ubi con- 
sitas sunt, educi queunt ; arena etenim, et pondere suo et altissima aquarum mole 
sibi incumbente fortiter stipata, urinatorum conatibus valide resistit ; hi maris fun- 
dum nacti, ibique veluti in solo sedentes, arenam Pinnae circumjectam manibus 
averrunt, Pinnamque deinceps ambabus manibus comprehensam divellere conan- 
tur. Et si diutius, quam par est, spiritum cohibere nequeunt, ad summa sequorum 
ascendunt, suberibusque aquae innatantibus inibi de industrift, positLs innituntur, 
donee tandem aeris haustu recreati, maris fundum iterum petant, operamque pe- 
nitus absolvant. v. ii. p. 230, 231. 

This species of Pinna is especially abundant on the shores of Sicily, in the 
Gulf of Taranto, and in the Bay of Naples, particularly beyond the Cape of Po- 
silipo. It always fills my mind with the greatest delight to recollect the manner 
of fishing for it, in which I have often taken a part at that spot in the com- 
mencement of spring. On the northern shore of the Isle of Nisida opposite Po- 
silipo, is a most agreeable expanse of water, where the sea appears to be ever at 
rest. Here, amidst those vast and most beauteous submarine forests, with which 
the coast is decorated in every direction so as at once to charm the mind and re- 
fresh the eye, the Pinna grows spontaneously in large groups, and in calm water, 
when the shadows fall from the summit of the island, is clearly seen by persons 
in boats growing nearly upright and fixed in the sandy bottom at the depth of 
about thirty feet. There are divers, whose business it is to bring it up. But, 
since it cannot be loosened even by repeated blows, (for the sand firmly resists 
the attempts of the diver, being supported by its own weight and by the super- 
incumbent water,) in these circumstances he sits down at the bottom of the sea, 
brushes away with his fingers the earth which encompasses the shell, and then 
endeavors to pull it up by seizing it with both hands. If he is thus likely to be 
detained at the bottom for a longer time than he can hold his breath, he ascends 
to the surface, supports himself upon corks, which aro in readiness for him, and, 
when he has sufficiently recovered himself by breathing, he again dives to the 
bottom to complete his task. 

The specimens of Pinna in the British Museum show not 
only the tuft, but also the pearls and the mother of pearl. Poli 
found in one specimen of the Pinna Nobilis no less than twen- 
ty pearls, of which he has given figures in his splendid work. 
Pliny (1. ix. c. 35.) mentions the practice of diving for the Pin- 
na in the Mediterranean Sea in order to obtain pearls from it : 
and Atbeneeus (1. iii. p. 93 Casaub.) has preserved extracts from 
two historical writers, one of whom accompanied Alexander on 
his Indian expedition, and who informs us, that the Pinna was 
procured in the Indian seas, by diving and for the sake of the 
pearls. 



182 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

The Italians call the fibres Lana Pesce or Lana Penna, 
i. e. Fish Wool, or Pinna Wool. It is not equally good in all 
places. When the bottom of the sea is sandy, the shell with 
its bunch of fibres may be easily extracted, and they are silky 
and of a fine color. But in rushy and muddy bottoms so fast 
do they stick as to be generally broken in drawing up, and are 
of a blackish color without gloss. 

The Lana Penna is twice washed in tepid water, once in 
soap and water, and again in tepid water, then spread on a ta- 
ble to dry : while yet moist, it is rubbed and separated with the 
hand, and again spread on the table. When quite dry, it is 
drawn through a wide comb of bone, and then through a nar- 
row one. That which is destined for very fine works is also 
drawn through iron combs, called scarde (cards). It is then 
spun with a distaff and spindle. 

As it is impossible to procure much of this material of a 
good quality, the manufacture is very limited, and the articles 
produced, stockings and gloves, are expensive. They are es- 
teemed excellent preservatives against cold and damp, are soft 
and very warm, and the finest of a brown cinnamon, or glossy 
gold color. The manufacture is chiefly carried on at Taranto, 
the ancient Tarentum*. 

The Lana Penna, having been spun, is now almost uni- 
versally knit. But, as it does not appear that the ancients 
were acquainted with this process prior to the second century ; 
whatever garments they made of this material must have been 
woven. 

The first proof we possess of its use among them is in Ter 
tullian, who lived in the second century (De Pallio, iii. p. 
115, Rigaltii). Speaking of the materials for weaving, he 
says, 

Nee fuit satis tunicam pangere et serere, ni etiam piseari vestitum contigisset 
nam et de mari vellera, quo mucosae lanusitatis plautiores conchas comant. 

Nor was it enough to comb and to sow the materials for a tunic. It was ne- 

* Riedesel's Travels through Sicily and Graecia Magna, translated by J. B 
Forster, London, 1773, p. 178-180. De Salis, Travels in the Kingdom of Na. 
pies. Keppel Craven, Tour through the Southern Provinces of the Kingdom of 
Naples, p. 185. D'Argenville, Lithol. et Conchologie, p. 183, and Plate 25. 



FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINNA. 183 

cessary also to fish for one's dress. For fleeces are obtained from the sea, where 
shells of extraordinary size are furnished with tufts of mossy hair*. (See Fig. 7, 
Plate II.) 

Procopius informs us (De Edif. lib. iii. c. 1.), that Armenia 
was governed by five hereditary satraps, who received their 
insignia from the Roman Emperor. Among these was a 
Chlamys made of the fibres of the Pinna. (Xxa^s h i{ epiav 

TTiTToii]n'cvTi } oi% oia ruv Trpo/3a.Tib>v SKireipVKCv, dAX' Ik QaXaaarn avvtiXtypivbiv' xivvov; to. 
$wa Ka\cTv vsvop.Uaai, Iv ois i] tSv cpuov £K<j>vcris yivErai.) This ClllamyS Was 

fastened with a fibula of gold, in which a precious stone was 
set, and three hyacinths were suspended from it by golden 
chains ix?'"™ 1 * Te Kal x aXa ? a ^ a\ia^iv.) The chlamys was accom- 
panied by a silken tunic, adorned with sprigs or "feathers" of 
gold. It is thus described : 

Xira)i> Ik perils, lyKaXXbjiriafiatn ^pwois Travrax^Sev upaiapevos,, 2 <5i) vevopLiKaci 
r\ovp.p.ia itaXciv. 

With the chlamys and tunic were worn boots of red leather, 
such as only the emperors of Rome and Persia were allowed to 
wear. 

St. Basil mentions with admiration " the golden fleece " of 
the Pinna, which no artificial dye could imitate. Tl66sv to x^™** 

epiov al tiivvai TpLtpovoiv, o-ntp ovdzis rwv dvOnflatpow ipipfiaaro. — Hexaem. vii. 

Whether the tuft of the Pinna was used for weaving before 
the time of the authors, who have now been cited, seems 
doubtful. As the Pinna is frequently mentioned by earlier 
writers, both Greek and Latint, but without any reference to 
the use of its tuft, it may be regarded as probable, that this 
kind of cloth was not invented before the time of Tertullian. 

It is a no less curious question, Whence did the ancients ob- 
tain the fibres of the Pinna, and where was the manufacture 
of them carried on ? 



* In this passage piscari is rather fancifully opposed to pangere and severe. 
The former of these two terms (pangere) refers to tunics of wool, which was pac- 
ta or pexa ; the latter to tunics of cotton and flax, which were sata. The epithet 
plautiores, (etymologically allied to latiores, and to irWtif,) well describes the 
large size and expanded form of the Pinna. 

t The passages are collected in Stephani Thesaurus L. Graecae, ed. Valpy, 
p 7579. 



184 CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

It has been commonly said at Tarentum, but apparently 
for no other reason than that the Pinna is obtained and the 
manufacture principally carried on at Taranto in modern 
times. By referring to the authorities above quoted, it will be 
seen that none of them makes any allusion to Tarentum. 
Consequently we have no direct evidence, that this was the 
seat of the ancient manufacture. On the contrary, we have 
testimony, that fine cloths of this substance were made in 
India, and thence imported into Greece and other countries. 

The author of the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, a docu- 
ment of an age at least as late as the time of Tertullian, states 
that the business of diving for the wool of the Pinna was pros- 
ecuted near the city called Colchi in the south of India. Dif- 
ferent species of Pinna with tufts of fine silk are now no less 
abundant in the Indian than the Mediterranean Sea. The 
Periplus of the Erythrean Sea presents a sufficient proof, that 
this beautiful substance was spun and woven by the Indians, 
whereas we can only suppose from analogy that the manufac- 
ture was carried on in ancient times by the Tarentines. 



CHAPTER XI 

FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINE-APPLE. 

Fibres of the Pine Apple — Facility of dyeing — Manner of preparing the fibres for 
weaving — Easy cultivation of the plant — Thrives where no other plant will 
live — Mr. Frederick Burt Zincke's patent process of manufacturing cloth from 
the fibres of this plant — Its comparative want of strength — Silken material pro- 
cured from the Papyfera — Spun and woven into cloth — Cloth of this description 
manufactured generally by the Otaheiteans, and other inhabitants of the South 
Sea Islands — Great strength (supposed) of ropes made from the fibres of the 
aloe — Exaggerated statements. 

This plant, which has hitherto been valued solely as min- 
istering to the luxuries of the table, has lately had a new in- 
terest attached to it from the discovery of a fibre contained in 
its leaves, possessing such valuable properties, that it will, in 
all probability, soon form a new and important article of com- 
merce. 

The fibres of the pine-apple plant are disposed in fasciculi, 
each apparent fibre being an assemblage of fibres adhering to- 
gether, of such exceeding delicacy, as only to measure from 
■g-^-th to yinru tn P art °f an mcn m diameter ; viewed under the 
microscope, they bear considerable resemblance to silk, from 
their glossy, even, and smooth texture. They appear altogether 
destitute of joints, or other irregularities, and are remarkably 
transparent, particularly when viewed in water : they are very 
elastic, of considerable strength, and readily receive the most 
delicate dyes. This last fact appears singular, when we bear 
in mind the resistance, if we may be allowed the expression, 
which flax offers to dyes. With much trouble, and by long 
processes, flax will receive a few dark dingy colors : all light 
and brilliant ones it wholly resists ; they do not enter the fibre, 
but merely dry upon it externally, and afterwards easily peel, 
or rub off, — in short, it may be said to be painted, and not 
dyed. 

The preparation of the pine-fibre is exceedingly simple. If 

24 



186 FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OP THE PINE APPLE. 

a leaf of this plant be examined, it will be found to consist of 
an assemblage of fibres running parallel from one extremity of 
the leaf to the other, embedded in the soft pabulum. All the 
process necessary is to pass the leaf under a " tilt hammer," the 
rapid action of which, in a few seconds, completely crushes it, 
without in the slightest degree injuring the fibre, which re- 
mains in a large skein, and then requires to be rinsed out in 
soft water, to cleanse it from impurities, and be afterwards dried 
in the shade. So simple and rapid is the process, that a leaf, in 
a quarter of an hour after being cut from the plant, may be in 
a state fit for the purposes of the manufacturer, as a glossy, 
white fibre, with its strength unimpaired by any process of ma- 
ceration, which, by inducing partial putrefaction, not only ma- 
terially injures the strength of flax, but also renders it of a 
dingy color. 

The pine-plant abounds both in the East and West Indies, 
and may be easily propagated from the crown ; offsetts from 
round the base of the fruit, which often amount to upwards of 
twenty in number ; and from the young plants which spring 
from the parent stem; its cultivation requires but little care or 
expense, and is of such hardy growth, as to be almost indepen- 
dent of those casualties of weather, which often prove so detri- 
mental to more delicate crops — it is one of those plants which 
Nature has scattered so profusely through tropical regions, 
whose leaves are thick and fleshy, to contain a large supply of 
nourishment, and covered by a thick, glazed cuticle ; admitting 
of so little evaporation, that many of them will thrive upon a 
barren rock, where no other plant would live. Also from the 
large portion of oxalic acid which the leaves contain, no animal 
will touch them, and are, therefore, exempt from the trespasses 
of cattle, &c. Indeed no greater proof of the hardiness of the 
plant can be given, than the fact, that in many places where 
lands have been under tillage, — afterwards abandoned, and al- 
lowed to return to a state of nature, the pine-apple plant ex- 
hibits the only trace of former cultivation ; every other cultiva- 
ted plant has died away before the encroachments of the sur- 
rounding wood, while they alone remained increasing from year 
to year, and spread into large beds. 



FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINE APPLE. 187 

Mr. Frederick Burt Zincke obtained a patent in England, 
bearing date December 9, 1836, for the following mode of pre- 
paring the filaments of this plant, the " Bromelia ananas? 
We give the patentee's own description (with slight emenda- 
tions), as received from the patent office, London, and which is 
as follows. 

" I (the said Frederick Burt Zincke) do hereby declare that 
the nature of my said invention consists — Firstly, in preparing 
or manufacturing the leaf of the plant, commonly called the 
pine-apple, by bruising, beating, washing, and drying the same, 
in such manner as to separate the long fibrous parts from the 
cuticle pabulum, and other matter comprising the said leaf. 
Secondly, in the application of the fibrous substance, so prepa- 
red to various manufactures and purposes, for which silk, flax, 
cotton, hemp, wool, and other fibrous materials are now used. 
And further, I describe the manner in which my said invention 
is to be performed by the following statement : For the purpose 
of preparing the fibre, I cut the leaves from the pine-apple plant, 
at any period from the time of their obtaining their full growth, 
till the ripening of the fruit, for I find that if the leaves are 
taken before they are full grown, the fibre is less strong, and if 
suffered to remain on the plant, after the ripening of the fruit, 
the fibre becomes harsh, and is more difficult to divest of the 
extraneous matter. The small thorns having been trimmed 
from the edge of the leaves, with a sharp knife, the leaves 
should be crushed, so as to disengage the fibre from the other 
matter composing the leaf, for which purpose the employment 
of a mallet upon a block of wood, will fully answer the intend- 
ed purpose. This process of crushing is to be continued until 
the fibre appears in an assemblage of long silky filaments, 
with more or less of the pulpy and other matter of the leaf ad- 
hering to them ; to cleanse them from which they are to be 
well rinsed in soft water, immediately after having been 
crushed or beaten, and then the water should forthwith be 
squeezed out of them, by drawing them between the edges of 
two pieces of wood, placed parallel to each other, so as to admit 
of the fibres being drawn out rather lightly between them, for 
if the green matter is allowed to dry on the fibre, it of course 



188 FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINE APPLjl. 

becomes more difficult to cleanse. The washing must be care- 
fully performed, so as to prevent the fibre from becoming tangled 
or knotted. The operation of washing or rinsing must be re- 
peated until the fibre be thoroughly cleansed. If it be found 
difficult to clean the fibre from the extraneous matter, in conse- 
quence of not collecting the leaves from the plant sufficiently 
early, or from any other cause, the operation will be facilitated 
by boiling the fibre, after it has been beaten, and partially pu- 
rified in a solution of soap in soft water. For this purpose the 
fibre must be regularly disposed in any suitable vessel, so as to 
prevent its becoming tangled, with sufficient water to cover it, 
in which soap has been dissolved, in the proportion of about 
5 lbs. to 50 lbs. of fibre, a light weight being then placed upon it, 
to keep the fibre beneath the surface of the liquor ; the whole 
is then to be boiled for the space of three or four hours, and af- 
ter boiling, to be well rinsed out in soft water, and squeezed as 
before directed. The fibre having been cleansed by these pro- 
cesses, is to be gradually dried in the shade, and occasionally 
shaken out, so as to prevent the too close adhesion of the fila- 
ment in drying, which would otherwise take place. The fibre 
may be obtained free from the extraneous matter of the leaf 
by other modes ; but I prefer that which I have above described. 
As to the second part of my said invention, it is only necessary 
to observe that from the superiority of this fibre in several re- 
spects over those now in common use (?), it is adapted to a 
vast number of purposes, in which fibrous materials are now 
employed ; it is of a glossy white color, it receives dyes with fa- 
cility, it possesses great strength, and is divisible to an exceed- 
ing degree of fineness, for upon examination each filament 
that appears a single fibre, is, in fact, a bundle of very delicate 
fibres, adhering more or less strongly together. These qualities 
render it applicable to the manufacture of shaiols, drills, dam- 
ask-linens, plushes, carpets, rugs, lace, bonnets, paper ; as a 
material for rope, twine, or thread, and a variety of other pur- 
poses to which silk, cotton, flax hemp, wool, and other fibrous 
materials are now applied. As a material for spinning in the 
ordinary method in which flax is now spun through hot water, 
this fibre requires to undergo the process generally in use for 



FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OF THE PINE APPLE. 189 

bleaching flax. I find the period at which the bleaching can 
be most conveniently performed, is when the fibre is in the 
state called technically " a roving ;" for the coarser yarns the 
first stages of the bleaching process will be sufficient, but this 
operation must be carried further, in proportion to the fineness 
of the yarn intended to be spun. The effect of the bleaching 
upon the fibre is, to disengage part of the adhesive matter, 
which connects the fine filaments together, and render the 
yarn susceptible of longation, between the receiving and de- 
livering rollers in spinning, after it has passed through the hot 
water ; I therefore claim as my invention, the preparing and 
manufacturing into the fibres hereinbefore particularly described ; 
the leaf of the plant commonly called the pine-apple, by any 
mode or modes of preparation, and also the application of the 
said fibres, when prepared and manufactured, to the several 
purposes hereinbefore also particularly specified, the same being 
to the best of my knowledge (information, remembrance, and 
belief), now and not heretofore practised." 

M. de la Rouverie affirms, that he procured a beautiful veg- 
etable silk from the Papyfera or paper mulberry ; cutting the 
bark while the tree was in sap, beating it with mallets, and 
steeping it in water ; he obtained a thread from the fibres, al- 
most equal to silk in quality ; and this was woven into a cloth 
the texture of which appeared as if formed of that material. 
The finest sort of cloth among the inhabitants of Otaheite, and 
other of the South Sea Islands, is made of the bark of this 
tree. 

According to M. Chevremont, Engineer of Mines, " ropes 
made of aloes have four times the resistance of those of hemp 
of the same diameter, and made by the same process(?). The 
fibres of the aloe contain a resinous substance which protects 
the ropes from the action of moisture : even at sea, and renders 
the tarring of them unnecessary. They are lighter than hemp- 
en ropes, and lose nothing of their strength by being wet(?). 
When plunged into water, they are shortened only two per 
cent., so that they become less rigid than ropes made of 
hemp(?)." 

There appears to be a good deal of exaggeration in regard 



190 FIBRES, OR SILKEN MATERIAL OP THE PINE APPLE. 

to the great superiority of the fibres of these plants over cotton, 
flax, &c. This is particularly the case in regard to Mr. Zincke, 
for although he succeeded in producing some very beautiful 
specimens of fabric, in conformity with the foregoing specifica- 
tion, yet, the manufacture does not appear to make much prog- 
ress, chiefly on account of the inferiority in point of strength 
of the cloth, more especially when bleached. 



CHAPTER III. 

MALLOWS. 



CULTIVATION AND USE OF THE MALLOW AMONG THE ANCIENTS. 

TESTIMONY OF LATIN, GREEK, AND ATTIC WRITERS. 

The earliest mention of Mallows is to be found in Job xxx. 4. — Varieties of the 
Mallow — Cultivation and use of the Mallow — Testimony of ancient authors — 
Papias and Isidore's mention of Mallow cloth — Mallow cloth common in the 
days of Charlemagne — Mallow shawls — Mallow cloths mentioned in the Peri- 
plus as exported from India to Barygaza (Baroch) — Calidasa the Indian dram- 
atist, who lived in the first century B. C. — His testimony — Wallich's (the In- 
dian botanist) account — Mantles of woven bark, mentioned in the Sacontala 
of Calidasa — Valcalas or Mantles of woven bark, mentioned in the Ramayana, 
a noted poem of ancient India — Sheets made from trees — Ctesias's testimony 
— Strabo's account — Testimony of Statius Csecilius and Plautus, who lived 169 
B. C. and 184 B. C. — Plautus's laughable enumeration of the analogy of trades 
— Beauty of garments of Amorgos mentioned by Eupolis — Clearchus's testi- 
mony — Plato mentions linen shifts — Amorgine garments first manufactured at 
Athens in the time of Aristophanes. 

The earliest mention of mallows is that given in the book 
of Job, in the following words. " For want and famine they 
were solitary : fleeing into the wilderness in former time deso- 
late and waste. Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and ju- 
niper-roots for their meat." — Job xxx. 4. 

We find in ancient authors of a more modern date, distinct 
mention of three species of malvaceous plants, which are still 
common in the South of Europe. These are, the Common 
Mallow, Malva Silvestris, Linn. ; the Marsh Mallow, Althcea 
Officmalis, Linn. ; and the Hempleaved Mallow, Althcea Can- 
nab ma, Linn. 

The Common Mallow is called by the Latin writers Malva, 
by the Greek Ma\d X v, or MoXd^. 

This plant was used for food from the earliest times. Hesi- 
od represents living on Mallows and asphodel as the sign of 
moderation, contentment, and simplicity of manners. 



192 THE MALLOW, ITS USES BY THE ANCIENTS. 

N(j7rioij ov&' icraciv licrcj tXeji/ "ijiiav ttolvto;, 

Oil' &aov iv jiaXa-^rj ts koI dcr^oJsXu fiey' tivciap. — Op. el Dies, 41. 
Fools ! not to know how much more the half is than the whole, and how much 
benefit there is in mallows and asphodel. 

A dish of these vegetables was probably the cheapest of all 
kinds of food ; they grew wild in the meadow and by the way- 
side, and were gathered and dressed without any labor or 
trouble. 

Various authors however mention the cultivation of the Com- 
mon Mallow in gardens. See Virgil, Moretum, 73. Pliny. 
Hist. Nat. 1. xix. c. 22 and 31. Isidori Orig. 1. xvii. c. 10. 
Papiae Vocabular. v. Malva. Geopo?iica } xii. 1. Palladuis, iii. 
24. xi. 11. 

Dioscorides (I. ii. c. III.) calls it the Garden Mallow. Aris- 
tophanes (Plutus 544.) mentions eating the shoots of mallows 
instead of bread, intending by this to represent a vile and des- 
titute kind of living. Plutarch (Septem /Sapientum Con- 
vivium) says, " The mallow is good for food, and the Anther- 
icus is sweet." According to Le Clerc 6 a V 6ipiKo S (Anthericus) 
means the scapus of the asphodel : if he is right, this plant was 
eaten as we now eat asparagus. It is also remarkable that on 
this supposition Plutarch mentions the same two plants, which 
are also mentioned together by Hesiod. 

According to Theophrastus (Hist. Plant, vii. 7. 2.) the mal- 
low was not eaten raw, as in a salad, but required to be cooked. 
Cicero (Epist. ad Fam. vii. 26.) mentions the highly-seasoned 
vegetables at a dinner given by his friend Lentulus. Having 
been made ill by them, he says, that he, " who easily abstain- 
ed from oysters and lampreys, had been deceived by beet and 
mallows." Probably the leaves of the mallow were on this oc- 
casion boiled, chopped, and seasoned, much in the same way 
as spinach is now prepared in France. 

Moschus in the following well-known lines refers to the com- 
mon mallow together with other culinary vegetables : 

AT, a\, rat jiaXd^ai piv, iirav Kara kSttov oXuirai, 
'H(5s ra %Xcupa <rs\iva, to t ev9a\i; ov\ov avtidov, 
"YoTcpov av ^(oovti, Kal eis ito; aX'Xo ipvdvTt. 

Mallows, alas ! die down, and parsley, and flourishing fennel ; 

Then they spring up afresh, and live next year in the garden. 



FITNESS OF THE MALLOW FOR MAKING CLOTH. 193 

This is accurately true of the common mallow, the root of 
which is perennial, so that the stems grow up and die down 
again every year. Accordingly Theophrastus brings it as an 
example of a plant with annual stems*. 

Horace in two passages signifies his partiality to mallows, 
calling them " leves" light to digest. 

Let olives be my food, endive, and mallows light. 

Od. I. i. 31. v. 16. 

Mallows, salubrious to a frame o'er-filled. 

Epod. 2. 57. 

Martial recommends this vegetable on account of its laxative 
effect : 

Utere lactucis, et mollibus utere malvis. (iii. 47.) 

Exoneratarus ventrem mihi villica malvas 

Attulit, et varias, quas habet hortus, opes. (x. 48.) 

Diphilus of Siphnos (as quoted by AthencBus, I. ii. p. 58. E. 
Casaub.), after enumerating the medical virtues of the Com- 
mon Mallow, says, that " the wild was better than the culti- 
vated kind." 

Without quoting other classical authorities, the ancient prac- 
tice may be illustrated by the observations of modern travellers, 
who mention that the Common Mallow is still an article of con- 
sumption in the same parts of the world. 

Biddulph, who visited Syria about the year 1600, says, he 
" saw near Aleppo many poor people gathering mallows, and 
three-leaved grass, and asked them what they did with it, and 
they answered, that it was all their food, and that they boiled 
it, and did eat it." [Collection of Voyages and Travels from 
the Library of the E. of Oxford, p. 807.) 

Dr. Sibthorp states, that the Malva Silvestris grows wild 
in Cyprus, and is called M6\u X a. He also says, " The wild mal- 
low is very common about Athens : the leaves are boiled and 
eaten as a pot-herb, and an ingredient in the Dolma." (Me- 
moirs relating to European and Asiatic Turkey, edited by 
Walpole, p. 245.) Dr. Holland mentions both Malva Silves- 



* Hist. Plant. I. vii. c. 8. p. 142. Heinsii. 240. Schneider. 

25 



194 THE MALLOW, ITS USES BY THE ANCIENTS. 

tris and Althcea Officinalis among the officinal plants, which 
he found in Cephalonia. ( Travels in Greece, p. 543, Ato.). 

The Althcea Officinalis, or Marsh Mallow, is called by the 
Greek authors 'A\daia, by the Latin, Hibiscus. Theophrastus 
says, that it went also under the name of wild mallow*. Whilst 
the Common Mallow, though highly esteemed for its medicinal 
virtues, was principally regarded as a substantial article of food ; 
the Marsh Mallow, on the contrary, seems to have been rarely 
used except as an article of the Materia Medicaf ; and, as its 
peculiar properties were likely to be more matured in the wild 
than cultivated state, it does not appear to have been grown in 
gardens!. Theophrastus describes it by comparing it with the 
Common Mallow, and mentions its application, both internally 
and externally, as a medicinei Dioscorides (I. iii. c. 139.) gives 
similar details. Besides mentioning the proper name of the 
plant in Greek and in Latin, he calls it, " a kind of wild mal- 
low." Palladius (I. xi. p. 184. Bip.) explains " Hibiscus''' to 
be the same as "Althcea" See also Pliny, I. xx. c. 14. ed. Bip. 
Yirgil alludes to the use of it as fodder for goats, and as a ma- 
terial for weaving baskets\\. 

The Hemp-leaved Mallow, Althcea Cannabina, is once men- 
tioned by Dioscorides (lib. iii. c. 141.). Giving an account of 
hemp, he distinguishes between the cultivated and the wild. 
He says of the wild hemp, that the Romans called it Canna- 
bis Terminalis^. After mentioning the medical properties of 
the plant, Dioscorides says, that its bark was useful for making 
ropes. The truth of this observation will be apparent to every 
botanist. The plants belonging to the natural order Malva- 



* Hist. Plant. 1. ix. cap. 15. p. 188. Heinsii. 

t Calpurnius (Eclog. iv. 32,) mentions the " Hibiscus" as used for food, but 
only by persons in a state of great destitution. 

t At a later period, however, we find the Althaea Officinalis under the name of 
" Ibischa Mis-malva" in a catalogue of the plants, which Charlemagne selected 
for cultivation in the gardens attached to his villas. See Sprengel, Hist. Rei 
Herb. i. 220. 

§ Hist. Plant. 1. ix. cap. 19, p. 192. ed. Heinsii. 

|| Eclog. ii. 30. and x. 71. See Servius, Heyne, and J. H. Voss., ad loc. 

1 Meaning literally Hedge-hemp. 



FITNESS OP THE MALLOW FOR MAKING CLOTH. 195 

cece. are all remarkable for the abundance of strong and beau- 
tiful fibres in their bark*. 

But of the European species there is none superior in the 
fineness, the strength, the whiteness, and lustre of its fibres, to 
the Common Mallow, the Malva iSilvestris. We have seen 
that the antients were familiarly acquainted'' with this plant ; 
that it was commonly cultivated in their gardens ; and that 
they gathered it, when growing wild, to be taken as food or 
medicine. In these circumstances they could scarcely fail to ob- 
serve the aptitude of its bark for being spun into thread. More 
especially in places where they had no other native supply of 
fibrous materials ; in Attica, for example, which probably pro- 
duced neither hemp nor flax, it seems in the highest degree 
probable, that the fitness of the mallow to supply materials for 
weaving would not be overlooked. 

In producing the evidence, which establishes this as a posi- 
tive fact, we shall begin with the latest testimonies and proceed 
in a reverse order upward to the most ancient. According to 
this plan, the first authority is that of Papias, who wrote his 
Vocabulary about the year 1050. He gives the following ex- 
planations : 

Malbella vestis qua? ex malvaram stamine eonficitur, quam alii molocinam vo- 
cant. 

Molocina vestis quae albo stamine sit : quam alii malbellam vocant. 

These passages clearly describe a kind of cloth made of the 
white fibres of the common mallow. Malbella, the same with 
Malvella, is a Latin adjective, in the form of a diminutive, from 
Malva : Molocina, the same with Mo\6 X iv V , is a Greek adjective 
from Mo\6 X v, and signifies made of mallow. 

Papias, who seems in coznpiling his dictionary to have made 
great use of Isidore, perhaps derived these explanations in part 
from the following passage of the latter author : 

* We have the following testimony respecting the actual fabrication of mallow- 
cloth in modern times : 

" Nous avons vu a Madrid, chez le savant pharmacien D. Casimir Orte"ga, de 
ces tissus, qui nous out semble fort remarquables. lis e"taient faits avec l'e"corce 
des Altheas officinalis et cannabina, et avec celle du Malva sylvestris." F6e, 
Flore de Virgile, Paris 1822, p. 66. 



196 THE MALLOW, ITS USES BY THE ANCIENTS. 

Melocinia (vestis est), quae malvarum stamine conficitur, quam alii molocinam, 
alii malvellam vocant. Isid. Hisp. Orig. xix. 22. 

The cloth called Melocinea is made of the thread of mallows, and is called by 
some Molocina, by others Malvella. 

The passages of Papias cannot be taken as a proof, that mal- 
low-cloth was woven in his day. But that it was in fashion 
as late as the age of Charlemagne appears from the following 
line, which is quoted by Du Cange (Glossar. Med. et Inf. 
Lat. v. Melocineus) from a poem in praise of that monarch, 
attributed to Alcuin : 

Tecta melocineo fulgescit femina amictu. 
Wrapt in a mallow shawl the lady shines. 

The word "fulgescit" aptly describes the lustre of the mate- 
rial under consideration. From the Periplus of the Erythrean 
Sea* we learn, that cloths made of mallow, were among the 
articles of export from India, being brought from Ozene (Ugain) 
and Tagara in the interior of the country to the sea-port of 
Barygaza (Baroch). P. 146. 169, 170, 171. 

The genus Hibiscus, Linn, is very abundant in India. The 
bark of a certain species of this genus, especially of H. Tilia- 
ceus and H. Cannabinus, is now very extensively employed 
for making cordage, and might unquestionably have been used 
for making clotlrf. 

H. Tiliaceus is also represented in Rheede's Hort. Malaban- 
cus (vol. i. fig. 30.). It grows about 15 feet high. 

Dr. Wallich (Cat. of Indian Woods, p. 18.) mentions two 
other species as used for making cordage from the bark. 

The late Mr. John Hare, who lived in India a long time, 
says, that a coarse kind of cloth, used for making sacks, &c., 
is now woven from Hibiscus bark. 

As a further evidence, that the Molochina mentioned in the 
Periplus were made from the bark of the Hibiscus, we may 

* P. 146. 169, 170, 171. Arriani Op. ed. Blancardi, torn. ii. 

t Cavanilles, Tab. 52, fig. 1, represents H. Cannabinus, the leaf of which ia 
like that of hemp. Tab. 55, fig. 1, represents H. Tiliaceus, in the description of 
which we read " cortice in funes ductili ;" and Cavanilles says, the inhabitants 
of the South Sea Islands (Auslralium insularum) use in their ships and boats 
ropes made from the bark. 



FITNESS OP THE MALLOW FOR MAKING CLOTH. 197 

refer to that admirable specimen of Eastern taste and ingenu- 
ity, the Sacontala of the great Indian dramatist Calidasa. Sev- 
eral passages of this poem make mention of the Valcdla, which 
the Sanscrit Lexicons, themselves of great antiquity, explain as 
meaning either bark, or a vesture made from it. We learn 
from Dr. Wallich, a celebrated Indian botanist, that many 
kinds of Hibiscus had this quality in an eminent degree, and, 
as their bark was in common use for making all kinds of cord- 
age, it might undoubtedly be employed for weaving. 

The Sacontala is of a date as ancient as the Periplus. Pro- 
fessor Yon Bohlen (Das alte Indien, vol. ii. p. 477.) asserts, 
that the author Calidasa certainly flourished as early as the 
first century B. C. Sir William Jones makes him older by 
several centuries. ( Works, vol. vi. p. 206.) The place also 
agrees as well as the time. The Hibiscus Tiliaceus, according 
to Sir J. E. Smith, is a one of the most common trees in every 
part of the East Indies, thriving in all sorts of situations and 
soils, and cultivated for the sake of its shade even more than 
the beauty of its flowers, in towns and villages and by road- 
sides. A coarse cordage," he adds, " is made of the bark ; the 
wood is light and white, useful for small cabinet-work ; the 
mucilage of the whole plant is applied to some medical pur- 
poses." The Molochina, montioned in the Periplus, were 
brought from Ozene and Tagara, and may have come from 
still further North. The hermitage, described in the drama, 
was at the foot of the Himalaya Mountains, and near the river 
Malina, and, according to the representations given by the poet, 
the Yalcalas (translated by Sir W. Jones " mantles of woven 
bark" and by Chezy, " vetemens d 7 icorce"), were worn both 
by the hermits and by the beautiful Sacontala, while she was 
their inmate*. 

" Valcalas" are mentioned in precisely the same manner in 
the Ramayana, one of the most noted of the heroic poems of 
ancient India. They are represented as coarse garments worn 
by ascetics. 

* Translation of the Sacontala, Sir W. Jones's Works, vol. vi. pp. 217. 225. 289. 
Original, ed. Che"zy, Paris, 1830, p. 7, 1. 10. ; p. 9, 1. 10 ; p. 24, 1. 7. ; p. 131, 1. 14. 
Chezy's translation, pp. 10. 27. 142. 143. See also Heeren, Ideen, i. 2. p. 648. 



198 THE MALLOW, ITS USES BY THE ANCIENTS. 

If the explanation now given be admitted as applicable to 
the Molochina of the Periplus, it may throw light upon some 
other passages of ancient authors. 

Ctesias, in his Indica*, mentions " sheets made from trees? 

Strabo's account of the webs, which he calls Serica, an ac- 
count derived from the writings of Nearchus, admiral of Alex- 
ander the Great, represents those webs as made from fibres, 
which were scraped from the bark of trees. This would apply 
exactly to the supposed use of the Hibiscus for making cloth. 
The bark must have been first stript from the tree, and the 
fibres then scraped from the inside of the bark. 

To the same source we may, we think, trace the idea of 
Arethas (in Apoc. c 57.), that the Byssus, Rev. xix. 8., was 
u the bark of an Indian tree made into flax" 

Although the date of the following inscription, found at 
Rome, is uncertain, it may be conveniently brought in here. 
It is published by Muratori, Novus Thesaurus Vet. Inscrip- 
tionum, torn. ii. p. 939. 

P. AVCTIVS P. L. LYSANDER. 

VESTIARIVS. TENVIARIVS. 

MOLOCHINARIVS. VOT. SOL. 

Muratori in his Note says, that " Vestiarius Tenuiarius" was 
the man who made thin garments, and " Molochinarius" the 
man who made such garments of a mallow color. 

The authors, next in regard to antiquity, who make mention 
of Molochina, are the writers of the Latin Comedy, Statius 
Ceecilius, who died 169 B. C, and Plautus, who died 184 B. C. 

Nonius Marcellus (/. xvi.) quotes the following line from the 
Pausimachus of the former dramatist : 

Carbasina, molochina, ampelina.f 

The passage of Plautus is in the Aulularia [Act iii. Scene v. 
I. 40.), where we have a ludicrous enumeration, extending 



* Cap. 22. Fragmenta, ed. Ba.hr. p. 253. 326. 

t See C. C. Statii Fragmenta, a Leonhardo Spengel, Monachii 1829, p. 35 
Statius chiefly copied Menander (Gellius, ii. c. 16.) ; but it is not certain that 
Menander wrote any play called Pausimachus. 



FITNESS OF THE MALLOW FOR MAKING CLOTH. 199 

through more than ten lines, of all the persons concerned in 
the manufacture or sale of garments. 

Solearii astant, astant molochinarii. 

All the lexicographers and commentators explain Molochi- 
narius to be one who dyes cloth of the color of the mallow. 
Lanarius was a woollen-draper ; Coactiliarius, a dealer in 
felts, a hatter ; Lintearius a linen-draper ; and Sericarius a 
silk-mercer. According to the same analogy, Molochinarius 
would mean a dealer in Molochina, i. e. in all kinds of cloth 
made from mallows. 

The class of writers, which will now be produced as afford- 
ing testimony respecting the use of the mallow for weaving, 
are Greek authors, and who instead of the common Greek 
terms employ the Attic term A^pyds and its derivatives. 

'Anopyds has been explained by some of the lexicographers 
to be a kind of flax (See Julius Pollux, L. vii. § 74.). Perhaps 
by this explanation nothing more was intended than that it 
was a plant, the fibres of which were used to spin and weave 
into cloth. It is highly probable that it was the Malva Silves- 
iris or Common Mallow, and that it was called 'Anopyds. 

According to the Attic lexicons of Pausanias (apxid Exist ath. 
I. c.) and of Mceris, 'Anopyds was an Attic term. We now find 
traces of it in seven Attic writers, four or five of whom wrote 
comedy. These are Aristophanes, Cratinus, Antiphanes, Eu- 
polis, Clearchus, iEschines, and Plato. 

I. We shall take first Aristophanes, whose comedy called 
Lysistrata is frequently quoted by Pausanias and Cratinus, and 
being still extant throws considerable light upon the subject. It 
was represented in the year 412. B. C. Lysistrata says (L 
150), 

Kav rots %irojviou?t toTs ap.6pyivois 
Yvjival TrapioTfiei', 

" And if we should present ourselves naked in shifts of amor- 
gos ;" showing that these shifts were transparent. Accordingly 
Moeris says, that the a^pyivov was \exrd» v^aafia, " a thin web." Bi- 
setus in his Greek commentary on this play, after quoting the 
explanations of Stephanus Byzantinus, Suidas, Eustathius, 



200 THE MALLOW, ITS USES BY THE ANCIENTS. 

and the Etymologicum Magnum, judiciously concludes as fol- 
lows : " From all these it is manifest, that d^pyivoi x i ™vts, 
whether they took their name from a place, from their color, or 
from the raw material, were a kind of valuable robe, worn by 
the rich, fashionable, and luxurious women." 

A subsequent passage of the Lysistrata (v. 736-741) still 
further illustrates this subject. A woman laments, that she has 
left at home her A^yis without being peeled (aXomv), and she 
goes to peel it (<W£(>su>). The mallow no less than flax and 
hemp, would require the bark to be stript off, and doubtless the 
best time for stripping it is as soon as the plant is gathered. 

II. Cratinus died about 420 B. C. The following line, from 
his comedy called Maxs^;, represents a person spinning 'Appyrff. 

'Ajuopyov lvSov Ppvrivriv vijBsiv Tiva. 

Cratina Fragmenta, a Runkel, p. 29. 

III. Julius Pollux, speaking of garments made of 'Appyoj (L. 
vii. c 13.) quotes the Medea of Antiphanes thus ; V H./ x ™ v 
d^pyivos. This author was contemporary with Aristophanes. 

IV. Eupolis wrote about the same time, and his authority 
may be added to the rest as proving that garments of Amorgos 
were admired by luxurious persons at Athens*. 

V. Clearchus of Solif mentions the use of a cover of Amor- 
gos for inclosing a splendid purple blanket. This application 
of it is agreeable to the foregoing evidence, showing that the 
amorgine ivebs were transparent. The silky translucence of 
the lace-like web of mallow would have a very beautiful effect 
over the fine purple of the downy blanket. 

VI. iEschines in an oration against Timarchus, the object 
of which is to hold up to contempt the extravagancies of this 
Athenian spendthrift, in his enumeration of them, he mentions 
(p. 118, ed. Reiskii.) that Timarchus took to his house " a wo- 
man skilled in making cloths of Amorgos." 

* See Harpocration, p. 29. ed. Blancardi. 1683. 4to. Also Pher. et Eupolidis 
Fragmenta, a Runkel, p. 150. 

t Ap. Athenasum, L. vi. p. 255, Casaub. Clearchus probably wrote about 1 00 
years later than the before-mentioned authors, but the circumstances related by 
him may have occurred about the time when those authors flourished, and even 
at Athens. 



FITNESS OP THE MALLOW FOR MAKING CLOTH. 201 

VII. Plato in the 13th Epistle, addressed to Dionysius, ty- 
rant of Syracuse, which, if not genuine, is at least ancient, 
proposes to give to the three daughters of Cebes three long 
shifts, not the valuable shifts made of Amorgos, but the linen 
shifts of Sicily. 

The mention of amorgine garments by the writers, who 
have now been cited, seems to prove, that the fashion of making 
and wearing them first came in among the Greeks at Athens 
in the time of Aristophanes, who lived, as the reader will have 
observed, in the fifth century before Christ. From them the 
fashion may have extended itself into Sicily and Italy, which 
will account, if Amorgina were the same with Molochina, 
for the striking agreement in this respect between the writers 
of Greek and of Latin Comedy. In subsequent ages the man- 
ufacture seems so have declined, probably in consequence of 
the abundance of silk and other rich and beautiful goods im- 
ported from Asia. But the mention of these stuffs in the wri- 
tings of Isidore and Alcuin renders it probable, that they were 
brought again into use in the fifth and following centuries of 
the Christian era. 

26 



CHAPTER XIII, 

SPARTUM, OR SPANISH BROOM. 



CLOTH MANUFACTURED FROM BROOM BARK, NETTLE, AND BULBOUS 
PLANT. TESTIMONY OF GREEK AND LATIN AUTHORS. 

Authority for Spanish Broom — Stipa Tenacissima — Cloth made from Broom- 
bark — Albania — Italy — France — Mode of preparing the fibre for weaving — 
Pliny's account of Spartum — Bulbous plant — Its fibrous coats — Pliny's transla- 
tion of Theophrastus — Socks and garments — Size of the bulb — Its genus or 
species not sufficiently defined — Remarks of various modern writers on this plant 
— Interesting communications of Dr. Daniel Stebbins, of Northampton, Mass. 
to Hon. H. L. Ellsworth. 

Pliny says, that " in the part of Hispania Citerior about 
New Carthage whole mountains were covered with Spartum ; 
that the natives made mattresses, shoes, and coarse garments 
of it, also fires and torches ; and that its tender tops were eaten 
by animals*." He also says, that it grows spontaneously 
where nothing else will grow, and that it is " the rush of a dry 
soil." 

The question now arises, what plant Pliny intended to de- 
scribe. Clusius, who travelled in Spain chiefly with a view to 
botany, supposed Pliny's " Spartum" to be the tough grass, 
used in every part of Spain for making mats, baskets, &c, 
which Linnaeus afterwards called Stipa Tenacissimaf. It is 
not surprising, that the opinion of so eminent a botanist as 
Clusius has been generally adopted. It is, however, far 
more probable, that the plant, which Pliny intended to speak 
of, was the Spartium Junceum, Linn., so familiarly known 
under the name of Spanish Broom. 

In the first place, the name Spartum should be considered as 
decisive of the question, unless some sufficient reason can be 

* L. xix. c. 2. t Clusii Plant. Rar. Historia, L. vi. p. 219. 220. 



ITS FITNESS FOR MAKING CLOTH. 203 

shown for ascribing to it in this passage a sense different from 
that which it commonly bore. Spartus or iSpartum, is ad- 
mitted to be used by all authors, Greek and Latin, and even 
by Pliny himself in another passage*, to denote the Spanish 
Broom. We learn from Sibthorp, that the Spanish Broom is 
still called Sparto by the Greeks, and that it grows on dry 
sandy hills throughout the islands of the Archipelago and the 
continent of Greece. Sparto was indeed properly the Greek 
name of this shrub, the Latin name being Genista, and the 
use of the Greek name in Hispania Citerior may have been 
owing to the Grecian settlements on that coast, colonized from 
Marseilles. 

Besides the passages of Latin authors referred to by Schnei- 
der and Billerbeck, and which it is unnecessary to repeat, the 
following from Isidore of Seville appears decisive respecting the 
acceptation of the term. 

" Spartus frutex virgosus sine foliis, ab asperitate vocatus ; 
volumina enim funium, quse ex eo fiunt, aspera sunt." Orig- 
inum L. xvii. c. 9. 

This is the definition of a learned and observant author, who 
lived in Spain, and who must have been familiar with the 
facts. " Frutex virgosus sine foliis" is a clear and striking 
description of the Spanish Broom, the leaves of which are so 
small as easily to escape observationt. The Stipa Tenacissi- 
ma, on the other hand, is not a shrub with twigs, but a grass, 
which grows in tufts, the long leaves being as abundant and 
useful as the stems or straws. Clusius himself (/. c.) in lay- 
ing down the distinction between the Spartum of the Greeks, 
which he supposed to be the Spanish Broom, and the Spartum 
of Pliny, which he supposed to be the Stipa Tenacissima, as- 
serts that the former is a shrub {frutex), the latter a herb with 
grassy leaves (Jierba graminacea folia proferens). It is clear, 
therefore, that the inhabitants of Spain in the time of Isidore 

* See L. xi. 8. where Pliny says, that bees obtain honey and wax from 
" Spartum," and compare this with Aristotle, Hist. Anim. L. x. 40. 

t Dioscorides also describes the Spanish Broom to be " a shrub bearing long 
twigs without leaves." Isidore's etymology, deducing Spartus from Asper, is man- 
ifestly absurd. 



204 SPARTUM OR SPANISH BROOM : 

still used the term Spartus in its original acceptation, viz. to 
denote the Spartium Junceum of Linnseus. 

When the Stipa Tenacissima was brought into use for ma- 
king ropes and for other purposes, for which the Spanish Broom 
was employed, the name of the latter would naturally be ex- 
tended to the former, and we may thus account for the fact 
that the Stipa Tenacissima is now universally known in Spain 
by the name Esparto. Indeed it is possible, that the employ- 
ment of the Stipa Tenacissima for these purposes may have 
been as ancient as the time of Pliny ; and his use of the word 
" herbal'' in describing it, as well as the locality which he as- 
signs to it, the hilly country about Carthage, favors the common 
interpretation, and perhaps even authorizes the conclusion, that 
his account is the result of confounding the two plants together, 
so that he says of one supposed plant things, which were partly 
true of both, and partly applicable either to the Spanish Broom, 
or to the Stipa Tenacissima only. But, even if this be admit- 
ted, it is still possible that the plant, from whose fibres the 
u pastor um vestis" was manufactured, was not the grassy Sti- 
pa, but the shrub, the Spanish Broom. 

In order to establish this point we now proceed to mention the 
evidence respecting the application of it to such uses. It has 
been employed for making cloth in Turkey, in Italy, and the 
South of France, but in circumstances, which were either spe- 
cially favorable to the manufacture, or where flax could not be 
cultivated. It is manufactured into shirts in Albania according 
to Dr. Sibthorp*. Nearly a century ago, Pope Benedict XIV. 
brought a colony of Albanians to inhabit a barren and desolate 
portion of his territory on the sea-coast. Here they obtained a 
very fine, strong, durable thread from the Broom and the Net- 
tle, and used it, when woven, in place of linenf. Trombelli, 
who relates this fact, also gives an account of the manufacture 
of broom-bark in the vicinity of Lucca, where the hills, called 
Monte Cascia, are covered with this plant]:. " Formerly," he 

* Flora Grseca, No. 671. 

t Trombelli, Bononiensis Scient. atque Artium Instituti Commentarii, torn. vi. 
p. 118. 

t Trombelli calls the plant Genista, and says it is the kind called by botanists 



ITS FITNESS FOR MAKING CLOTH. 205 

says, " the people derived no other advantage from the shrub 
than to feed sheep and goats with it, and to heat their stoves 
and furnaces. But their ingenuity and industry have now 
made it far more profitable. They steep the twigs for some 
days in the thermal waters of Bagno a Acqua near Lucca. 
After this process the bark is easily stript off, and it is then 
combed and otherwise treated like flax. It becomes finer 
than hemp could be made ; it is easily dyed of any color, and 
may be used for garments of any kind*." In the vicinity of 
Pisa we find that the twigs of the Spanish Broom were in like 
manner soaked in the thermal waters, and that a coarse cloth 
was manufactured from the barkt. 

But the manufacture has been carried to a far greater extent 
in the South of France. In the Journal de Physique, Tom. 
30. Ato. An. 1787. p. 294., is a paper by Broussonet iSur la 
culture et les usages economiques du Genet d } Espagne. A 
minute and highly curious account is here given of the mode 
of preparing the fibres, which is practised by the inhabitants of 
all the villages in the vicinity of Lodeve in Bas Languedoc. 
The shrub abounds on the barren hills of that region, and all 
that the people do to favor its growth is to sow the seed in the 
driest places, where scarce any other plant can vegetate. After 
being cut, the twigs are dried in the sun, then beaten, macera- 
ted in water, and treated in the same way as flax or hemp 
(See Zincke's process, Chapter XL). The coarser thread is 
used to make bags for holding the legumes, corn, &c. ; the 
finer for making sheets, napkins, and shirts. The peasants in 
this district use no other kind of linen, not being acquainted 
with the culture either of flax or hemp. The ground is too 
dry and unproductive to suit these plants. The linen made 



" Genista juncea flore luteo." This is the Spartium Junceum of Linnaeus. See 
Ray, Catal. Stirp. Europ. and Scopoli, Flora Carniolica, 1772, torn. i. No. 870. 

* Bononiensis Scientiarum atque Artium Instituti Commentarii, torn. iv. Bo- 
non. 1757, p. 349-351. A similar account of the manufacture of the " Teladi 
Ginestia" at Bagno a Acqua is given by Mr. John Strange, who says he had sent 
an account of it to the Society for encouraging Arts, Manufactures, and Com- 
merce. Lettera sopra l'Origine della carta naturale di Cortona, Pisa 1764. p. 79. 

t Mem. de l'Academie des Sciences, Paris 1763. 



206 SPARTUM OR SPANISH BROOM : 

of the Spanish Broom is as supple as that made from hemp ; 
it might be even as beautiful as real linen, if more pains were 
taken with it. It becomes whiter, the oftener it is washed. It 
is rarely sold, each family making it for its own use. The 
stalks, after the rind has been separated from them, are tied in 
small bundles, and sold for lighting fires. 

Let us now see how far Pliny's account of the Spartum 
agrees with these representations of the mode of manufactu- 
ring Broom-bark. The Spartum, of which he speaks, is " the 
rush of a dry soil" a description far more applicable to the 
young twigs of the Spanish Broom than to the grassy stems 
of the Stipa Tenacissima, or indeed to any other plant. His 
Spartum was used for making fires and for giving light (hinc 
ignes facesque), purposes for which the Stipa Tenacissima is 
not at all adapted, but to both of which the stems and twigs of 
the Spanish Broom are applied. The tender tops of Pliny's 
Spartum served as food for animals. According to Trom- 
belli sheep and goats feed upon the Spanish Broom in Italy ; 
but we cannot find that this is the case with the Stipa Tena- 
cissima. Pliny's Spartum, after being steeped in water, was 
beaten in order to be made useful (Hoc autem tunditur, ut 
fiat utile) ; and this process was quite necessary in preparing 
the twigs of Spanish Broom, whereas the Stipa Tenacissima 
is most commonly manufactured without going through any 
such process. Clusius indeed states (I. c.) that by macerating 
it in water like flax, and then drying and beating it, the Span- 
iards of Yalencia make a kind of shoes, which they call Alper- 
gates, also cords, and other finer articles ; but, at the same 
time, he says, that it is made into mats, baskets, ropes, and 
cables, merely by being dried, platted, and twisted, without any 
other operation. The same account is given by Townsend, 
who visited the country as late as 1787, and who further states, 
that " the esparto rush" had latterly " been spun into fine thread 
for the purpose of making cloth*." It seems, however, that this 
had only been done as an experiment, whereas the accounts 
which have been quoted show, that the manufacture of cloth 

* Journey through Spain, vol. iii. p. 129, 130. 



ITS FITNESS FOR MAKING CLOTH. 207 

from broom-bark had been long established in Albania, Italy, 
and the South of France. In the latter district more especially, 
the entire dependence of the people on this material as a sub- 
stitute for flax and hemp, and the primitive mode in which this 
domestic manufacture was carried on in a retired and moun- 
tainous region, seem to indicate the high antiquity of the prac- 
tice. All the other authors, who mention the use of the Stipa 
Tenacissima, certainly give little countenance to the idea of its 
fitness to supply a thread for making cloth. Mr. Carter, adopt- 
ing the common opinion that the Spartum of Pliny is the Stipa 
Tenacissima, observes, that " at present the meanest Spaniard 
would think clothing made from this grass very rough and un- 
comfortable*." We shall only quote one other authority, that 
of Lofling, the favorite pupil of Linnaeus, who became botanist 
to the King of Spain, and whose Iter Hispanicum {Stockholm, 
1758.) relates particularly to the plants of that country. He 
follows Clusius in supposing the Spartum of Pliny to be the 
Stipa Tenacissima of Linnaeus. He mentions, that its stem is 
two or three feet high, with leaves so long, thin, tough, and 
convoluted, that they are admirably adapted for the purposes 
to which they are applied. He adds, " Hispanis nominatur 
Esparto. Usus hujus frequentissimus per universam Hispani- 
am ad storeas ob pavimenta lateritia per hyemem : ad funes 
crassiores pio navibus ad que corbes et alia utensilia pro trans- 
portandis fractibus." (p. 119.) 

Pliny's remark, that the Spartum, of which he speaks, could 
not be sown (quce non queat seri), is not true of the Spanish 
Broom ; but this is of little importance in the present inquiry, 
because it is coupled with the remark, that nothing else could 
be sown in the same situation (nee aliud ibi seri aut nasci 
potest) ; a remark, which is totally unfounded in fact. The 
Spanish Broom would unquestionably be propagated by its 
seed, which is very abundant. 

From these facts, the reader will have no difficulty in form- 
ing his decision. Notwithstanding the respect due to the au- 
thority of Clusius, into which that of all the subsequent writers 

* Carter's Journey, vol. ii. p. 414, 415. 



208 SPARTUM OR SPANISH BROOM : 

seems to resolve itself, it appears to us that the evidence pre- 
ponderates against the use of Stipa Tenacissima for making 
cloth in ancient times, and points to the conclusion, that the 
coarse garments, to which Pliny alludes, were fabricated from 
the fibrous rind of Spartium Junceum. 

One of the most interesting facts in the geography of plants 
is the frequent substitution in one country, of a plant of a cer- 
tain natural order for another of the same natural order in an- 
other country. The Indians have a plant, bearing a very close 
and striking resemblance to the Spartium Junceum, which 
they employ just as the natives of Bas Languedoc employ that 
plant. We refer to the Crotalaria Juncea, called by the natives 
Goni, Danapu, or Shanapu, and by us the Sun-plant, or Indian 
Hemp. From the bark are made all kinds of ropes, pack- 
ing-cloths, sacks, nets, &c. In order to improve the fibre, the 
plants are sown as close as possible and thus draw up to the 
height of about ten feet. According to Dr. Francis Buchanan, 
the plant thrives best on a poor sandy soil, and requires to be 
abundantly watered. After being cut down it is spread out to 
the sun and dried. The seed is beaten out by striking the 
pods with a stick. After this the stems are tied up in large 
bundles, about twelve feet in circumference, and are preserved 
in stacks or under sheds. When wanted, the stems are mace- 
rated during six or eight days. They are known to be ready, 
when the bark separates easily from the pith. " The plant is 
then taken out of the water, and a man, taking it up by hand- 
fuls, beats them on the ground, and occasionally washes them 
until they be clean ; and at the same time picks out with his 
hand the remainder of the pith, until nothing except the bark 
be left. This is then dried, and being taken up by handfuls, 
is beaten with a stick to separate and clean the fibres. The 
hemp is then completely ready, and is spun into thread on a 
spindle, both by the men and women. The men alone weave 
it, and perform this labor in the open air with a very rude 
loom." The fabric made from it is a coarse, but very strong 
sack-cloth. 

" The fibres, when prepared," says Ironside, " are so similar 



ITS FITNESS FOR MAKING CLOTH. 209 

to hemp, that Europeans generally suppose them to be the 
produce of the same plant*." 

Theophrastust (Hist. PL viii. 13.) gives the following account 
of a bulbous plant, called by him BoX/?dj ipio<p6 ? o S , the root of 
which supplied materials for weaving: — "It grows in bays, 
and has the wool under the first coats of the bulb so as to be 
between the inner eatable part and the outer. Socks and other 
garments are woven from it. Hence this kind is woolly, and 
not hairy, like that in India." 

It is difficult to determine what plant is meant, though the 
description seems accurate and scientific. Billerbeck absurdly 
supposes it to be cotton-grasst By former botanists, men of 
great eminence, it was supposed to be Scilla Hyacinthoides. 
Sprengel objects, that this species does not grow in Greece §. 
Sir James Smith however {article Scilla in Rees's Cyclop.) 
represents it as growing in Madeira, Portugal, and the Levant. 
If this account be true, Theophrastus may have been acquaint- 
ed with it. In another article, Eriophorus, Sir J. Smith doubts 
whether either Scilla Hyacinthoides or any other bulb produces 
wool of such quality and in such quantity as to answer the 
description of Theophrastus. But, we learn from other well- 



* Account of the culture and uses of the Son- or Sun-plant of Hindostan by 
Ironside, in the Phil. Trans., vol. lxiv. : Dr. F. Buchanan's Journey, vol. i. 226, 
227, 291. ; vol. ii. 227, 235. : Wissett on Hemp, passim. : Roxburgh's Flora Indica, 
vol. iii. p. 259-263. 

The genus Lupinus (the Lupin), belonging to the same natural order as Spar- 
tium and Crotalaria, might probably afford materials of the same kind. Mr. 
Strange (Lettera, &c. p. 70.) mentions the filamentous substance of the Lupin as 
adapted for making paper. 

t " Theophrastus relates, that there is a kind of bulb growing about the banks of 
rivers, and that between its outer rind and the part of it which is eaten there is a 
woolly substance, out of which they make certain kinds of socks and cloths. But 
in the copies which I have found, he neither mentions in what country this is 
done, nor anything else with greater exactness, except that the bulb is called 
eriophoros ; nor does he make any mention at all of spartum, although he exam- 
ined the whole subject with great care 390 years before my time, as I have ob- 
served in another place (Viz., lib. xv. 1.), from which circumstance it appears, 
that spartum came into use since that time." 

t Flora Classica, p. 20. 

§ German translation of Theophrastus, Notes, vol. ii. p. 283. 

27 



210 SPARTUM OR SPANISH BROOM : 

informed botanists, that various bulbs have under the outer- 
most coats a copious tissue of tough fibres, fully sufficient to 
be employed in weaving. This is particularly the case with 
the genera Amaryllis, Crinum, and Pancratium, as well as 
Scilla. The fibrous coats serve as a protection to the interior 
and more vital parts of the bulb. 

HofTmansegg and Link, who travelled in Portugal, in the de- 
scription of Scilla Hyacinthoides, say, " Bulbus tomento viscoso 
tectus*." 

Sonnini says of the Scilla Maritima, "The Greeks of the 
Archipelago call it Kourvara-skilla, kourvara signifying proper- 
ly 'a tuft of thread' (peloton do Jilt)" Does this refer to the 
fibres mentioned by Theophrastus ? The size of this bulb, 
which is the common squill, used in pharmacy, seems to favor 
this supposition. It is often as large as a man's headt HofT- 
mansegg and Link§ say it grows abundantly on barren hills 
in Spain and Portugal ; but add, " The name maritima is 
not quite proper : for the plant is seldom met with near the 
sea-shore, and sometimes very remote from it." On the other 
hand, it must have been so called, because it was reported by 
others to grow on the sea-shore ; and Sir James Smith (in 
Rees's Cyclopedia) expressly states, that it grows on " sandy 
shores." Redoute says the same. 

From the account of Pancratium by Sir James Edward 
Smith (in Rees's Cyclop.), we learn that two species grow in 
Greece, viz. P. Maritimum and Illyricum. 

The remarks now offered appear to prove, that there certain- 
ly may have been a bulb, such as Theophrastus describes, 
though we have not sufficient information to decide its genus 
and species. It may have been the Scilla Maritima. 

It is to be observed, that he refers also to an Indian bulb, 
having similar properties. Perhaps he alluded to some plant of 



* Annals of Botany, by Konig and Sims, Lond. 1805, vol. L p 101. 
t Voyage en Grece, torn. i. ch. 14. p. 295. 

X " Bulbus ovatus, tunicatus, crassitie fere capitis humamV Desfontaines' 
Flora Atlantica, torn. i. p. 297. 
§ An. of Bot. vol. i. p. 101. 



ITS FITNESS FOR MAKING CLOTH. 211 

a kind similar to Agave Vivipara, the leaves of which are ex- 
tensively used in India for making cordage*. 

We cannot better conclude this part of the subject, than by 
giving the following interesting communication of Dr. Daniel 
Stebbins, of Northampton, Mass., to the Hon. H. L. Ellsworth, 
a gentleman who has, in our opinion, rendered most valuable 
services, not only to the people of the United States, but to the 
world at large, since his appointment to the office of Commis- 
sioner of Patents. 

Northampton, Hampshire County, Mass. 

" Dear Sir : The favorable notice of silk culture in document 
No. 109, from the Patent Office report of February, 1843, is my 
apology for presenting the enclosed samples of paper, made of 
mulberry foliage and bark. Unfortunately, the external cuticle 
of the bark had not been removed ; producing the spots, but 
does not injure the paper for the use intended, which was for 
the purpose of depositing silk-worms' eggs upon something 
dark ; and this being unbleached, is considered adapted to the 
habits of the silk- worm, and is now in successful experiment. 

" The four samples are all of one batch ; the darkest, having 
more of the outside cuticle, was most buoyant, rose to the top 
and came off first. 

" A quantity of genuine Canton foliage, which retains its 
verdure in greater perfection and later than any other mulberry, 
is gathered, dried, and sent to the mill for making paper, 
bleached, without spots, fit for cotton paper, as hoped ; and, if 
successful, I shall take pleasure in sending you a sample, to be 
preserved with the enclosed. 

" I began, some ten or twelve years since, to bring silk cul- 
ture into notice among the members of the Hampshire Agricul- 
tural Society, believing that if we tried the right kind of trees, 
(such as used in China,) we could raise silk, yet could not af- 
ford to pay $1 per tree, as then asked for multicaulis ; not re- 
flecting how easily they could be propagated by cuttings and 
layers. Under this view of the subject, I wrote to the Rev. E. 

* Dr. F. Buchanan's Journey in Mysore, &c. i. p. 36 



212 SPARTUM OR SPANISH BROOM : 

C. Bridgman, missionary at Canton, China, a native of Hamp- 
shire county, with the request that he would procure and for- 
ward me some mulberry seed of the most approved kind for 
growing in China, for the use of members of the agricultural 
society. He promptly attended to the request ; the seed was 
forwarded and sown in the spring of 1834 or 1835. It grew 
finely, and developed a splendid leaf. 

" About two years since, while Dr. Parker, with a Chinaman, 
was here on a visit, on being shown the Canton foliage, it was 
readily recognized. As the trees had grown here very luxuri- 
antly, and developed a larger leaf than in China, Dr. Parker 
suggested that our soil might be more congenial to the plant 
than even China, its native soil. 

" Soon after receiving the seed from Canton, a friend sent 
me another parcel from the South of Asia, with high commen- 
dations, that if it would grow here, it would be of essential ben- 
efit to the United States for raising silk. It succeeded well, and 
is more hardy than the white mulberry, very productive in 
small branches, and a good-sized leaf. I named the latter 
Asiatic Canton. These two kinds are highly approved of for 
feeding silk-worms — the Canton for leaf-feeding, and the Asi- 
atic for branch feeding. I have, however, almost every variety 
which was cultivated during the mulberry speculation — cover- 
ing, altogether, some ten or twelve acres, besides a large number 
of young Canton and Asiatic seedlings, of this year's sowing, 
from seed of my own raising, to enlarge the plantations. 

" A few days since, the Rev. William Richards, of the Sand- 
wich Islands, with the young prince, called on me. At a for- 
mer visit, I had supplied him with Canton mulberry-seed, silk- 
worms' eggs, and dry mulberry foliage to use in case the eggs 
should hatch on the passage ; but this they did not do until his 
arrival home. About the same time, other eggs had been re- 
ceived there from China; but the cocoons raised from them 
were not one quarter as large as the American, and must have 
required some 10,000 to 12,000 to make a pound of silk, while 
in America 2,400 to 3,000 would make a pound. 

" Mr. Titcomb, also a silk-grower in one of the islands, having 
the American and Chinese, crossed them: but the crossing 



ITS FITNESS FOR MAKING CLOTH. 213 

produced cocoons so small as to require from 5,000 to 6,000 to 
make a pound of silk, while not over 3,000 of the American 
would be required to do the same thing(!). 

" Mr. Richards was shown several pamphlets, newspapers, 
cap and writing- paper, supposed to have been made of mul- 
berry bark. He said rags were not used in India*, China, or 
the islands, for making paper, but they always make it of some 
vegetable leaf; that the bark was too valuable for that, and 
was used to make fabrics. (See Chapters XI. and XII. of 
this Part. Also Appendix A.) 

" We, as Americans, have the appropriate soil and climate for 
the Canton and Asiatic mulberry, with the pea-nut variety of 
worms, which, being managed with due care and attention, 
together with the skill, ingenuity, and perseverance of Ameri- 
cans — and, in addition, and could we have the aid of our country 
to encourage new beginners — we might hope to compete with 
any nation in the production of silk, their cheap labor and 
cheap living to the contrary notwithstanding. There is abun- 
dant evidence that worms fed exclusively on the Canton mul- 
berry have been larger, and produced heavier cocoons, by one- 
third in size of worms and weight of cocoons, than by other 



* Abdollatiph who visited Egypt A. D. 1200, informs us (Chapter iv. p. 188 of 
Silvestre de Sacy's French translation, p. 221 of Wahl's German translation.), 
" that the cloth, rags, $-c. found in the catacombs, and used to envelope the 
mummies, was made into garments, or sold to the scribes to make paper for 
shop-keepers." This cloth is proved to be linen (See Part IV. p. 365), and the 
passage of Abdollatiph may be considered as decisive proof, which however has 
never been produced as such, of the manufacture of linen paper as early as the 
year 1200. Professor Tychsen in his learned and curious dissertation on the use 
of paper from Papyrus (published in the Commentationes Reg. Soc. Gottingensis 
Recentiores, vol. iv. A. D. 1820), has brought abundant testimonies to prove that 
Egypt supplied all Europe with this kind of paper until towards the end of the 
eleventh century. The use of it was then abandoned, cotton paper being em- 
ployed instead. The Arabs in consequence of their conquests in Bucharia, had 
learnt the art of making cotton paper about the year 704, and through them or 
the Saracens it was introduced into Europe in the eleventh century. Another 
fact should not be lost sight of, namely, " that most of the old MSS. in Arabic 
and other oriental languages are written on this sort of paper," and that it was 
first introduced into Europe by the Saracens of Spain. (For further proof, see 
Appendix A. Also Part IV. already referred to.) 



214 SPARTUM OR SPANISH BROOM : 

feed. I have supplied an order of the peanut variety of eggs, 
to go to Guatemala ; and Canton seed, of my own raising, to 
go to Rio ; and now have an order for a number of the genu- 
ine Canton mulberry trees, roots, or cuttings, to go to Lima, 
where the applicant went on business, a few years since, taking 
with him a few multicaules, at $2 each — now multiplied to 
50,000 ; who, without any practical knowledge of raising trees, 
reeling and manufacturing silk, or having seen a silk-worm or 
reel until he introduced them in 1843, has now presented me 
with beautiful samples of Jloss cocoons, reeled and sewing silk, 
done by ladies as a diversion, without any assistance, and very 
little instruction from him. The silk is of good quality. Sam- 
pies had been sent by a mercantile house in Lima to England, 
for an opinion of the quality ; but no return had been received 
when he came away. He has come to this place with a native 
Spaniard, to obtain more perfect information in all the branches 
of reeling, twisting, coloring(!), &c. ; to procure machinery, 
with a view of enlarging operations, so that he might turn off 
twenty-five pounds per day of sewings, cords, braids, &c. He 
represents the climate and soil as adapted to the culture of silk, 
and could feed every month in the year ; that the necessaries 
of living are procured with but little labor ; that the laboring 
population are indolent, the wealthy classes too proud to labor. 
He feels confident of success, and that he can introduce habits 
of industry by silk culture, that would counteract their natural 
indolence ; and he will inform me of his success in due time, 
that may be more interesting than speculations upon what he 
intends doing. He has engaged several to perfect themselves in 
reeling, &c, to accompany him when he returns to Lima with 
his machinery. He has become so satisfied with the superiority 
of the genuine Canton mulberry, that he has engaged to take 
it on with him for propagation and use. 

" I have letters from widely different locations, rendering fa- 
vorable accounts of this year's success in growing silk, and in 
corroboration of the prevalent opinion that the silk cause will 
finally prevail. I have several letters on this subject — one 
from a gentleman presiding over one of our most eminent liter- 



ITS FITNESS FOR MAKING CLOTH. 215 

ary institutions, under date of June, 1844. Discoursing about 
the culture of silk, he writes as follows : 

" ' If this earnest waking up to a scientific and practical con- 
sideration of the subject be not soon crowned with signal suc- 
cess, it will not be for want of enterprize or skill in our country- 
men, but merely from the high price of labor here, compared 
with the scanty wages given in other silk-growing countries. 
Even this consideration, though it may retard for a while the 
complete success of this department of productive industry, will 
not prevent its ultimate triumph? 

"Another gentleman, under date of August, 1844, writes 
from the far West, ' that the soil and climate of the Western 
and South-western States are admirably suited to the growth 
of the mulberry and raising silk- worms,' and that ' eventually 
the two great staples of the Western and South-western States 
will be silk and wooV It is the opinion of competent skilful 
silk manufacturers, who have made critical experiments upon 
the Pongee-silk (so called) of foreign make, by tests which they 
consider satisfactory and decisive, that it is only a vegetable 
production, and that the material was never operated upon by 
the silk-worm(l). There can be no reasonable doubt about the 
ultimate success of silk-culture in some future years ; but to 
accelerate that desirable event, which may constitute an import- 
ant American staple for revenue (which might not only enrich 
the Government, but reward the labor of personal enterprize), 
a bounty is deemed necessary to stimulate and encourage that 
portion of the agricultural population whose circumstances or 
health disqualifies them for the more laborious exercises of the 
fields, to commence operations upon a new and untried crop. 
Our extensive imports of raw and manufactured silks are en- 
couraged by us as consumers, instead of being producers. We 
now contribute to support foreign enterprize and industry, to 
produce the article of silk, which we might, with proper encour- 
agement, raise ourselves, not only for our own consumption, but 
for exportation." 

Very respectfully, yours, &c. 
Henry L. Ellsworth, Esq., Daniel Stebbins. 

Commissioner of Patents. 



216 SPARTUM OR SPANISH BROOM. 

The amount of silk imported into the United States annu- 
ally, nearly equals that of linen and woollen together, and is 
equal to one half of all other fabrics combined. Is it not then, 
an important consideration, that this expenditure be saved to 
the nation? 



PART SECOND, 
ORIGIN AND ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE SHEEP, 



CHAPTER I. 
SHEEP'S WOOL. 



SHEEP-BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS ILLUS- 
TRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC. 

The Shepherd Boy — Sheep-breeding in Scythia and Persia — Mesopotamia and 
Syria — In Idumsea and Northern Arabia — In Palestine and Egypt — In Ethio- 
pia and Libya — In Caucasus and Coraxi — The Coraxi identified with the 
modern Caratshai — In Asia Minor, Pisidia, Pamphylia, Samos, &c. — In Caria 
and Ionia — Milesian wool — Sheep-breeding in Thrace, Magnesia, Thessaly, 
Euboea, and Boeotia — In Phocis, Attica, and Megaris — In Arcadia — Worship 
of Pan — Pan the god of the Arcadian Shepherds — Introduction of his worship 
into Attica — Extension of the worship of Pan — His dances with the nymphs — 
Pan not the Egyptian Mendes, but identical with Faunus — The philosophical 
explanation of Pan rejected — Moral, social, and political state of the Arcadians 
— Polybius on the cultivation of music by the Arcadians — Worship of Mercury 
in connection with sheep-breeding and the wool trade — Present state of Arca- 
dia — Sheep-breeding in Macedonia and Epirus — Shepherds' dogs — Annual 
migration of Albanian shepherds. 

THE SHEPHERD BOY. 

The rain was pattering o'er the low thatch'd shed 
That gave us shelter. There was a shepherd boy, 
Stretching his lazy limbs on the rough straw, 
In vacant happiness. A tatter' d sack 
Cover'd his sturdy loins, while his rude legs 
Were deck'd with uncouth patches of all hues, 
Iris and jet, through which his sun-burnt skin 
Peep'd forth in dainty contrast. He was a glory 
For painter's eye ; and his quaint draperies 
Would harmonize with some fair sylvan scene, 

28 



218 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

Where arching groves, and flower-embroider'd banks, 

Verdant with thymy grass, tempted the sheep 

To scramble up their height, while he, reclin'd 

Upon the pillowing moss, lay listlessly 

Through the long summer's day. Not such as he, 

In plains of Thessaly, as poets feign, 

Went piping forth at the first gleam of morn, 

And in their bowering thickets dreamt of joy, 

And innocence, and love. Let the true lay 

Speak thus of the poor hind : — His indolent gaze 

Reck'd not of natural beauties ; his delights 

Were gross and sensual : not the glorious sun, 

Rising above his hills, and lighting up 

His woods and pastures with a joyous beam, 

To him was grandeur ; not the reposing sound 

Of tinkling flocks cropping the tender shoots, 

To him was music ; not the blossomy breeze 

That slumbers in the honey-dropping bean-flower, 

To him was fragrance : he went plodding on 

His long-accustomed path ; and when his cares 

Of daily duties were o'erpass'd, he ate, 

And laugh'd, and slept, with a most drowsy mind. 

Dweller in cities, scorn'st thou tne shepherd boy, 

Who never look'd within to find the eye 

For Nature's glories ? Know, his slumbering spirit 

Struggled to pierce the fogs and deepening mists 

Of rustic ignorance ; but he was bound 

With a harsh galling chain, and so he went 

Grovelling along his dim instinctive way. 

Yet thou hadst other hopes and other thoughts, 

But the world spoil'd thee : then the mutable clouds, 

And doming skies, and glory-shedding sun, 

And tranquil stars that hung above thy head 

Like angels gazing on thy crowded path, 

To thee were worthless, and thy soul forsook 

The love of beauteous fields, and the blest lore 

That man may read in Nature's book of truth. 

Despise not, then, the lazy shepherd boy : 

For his account and thine shall be made up, 

And evil cherish'd and occasion lost 

May cast their load upon thee, while his spirit 

May bud and bloom in a more sunny sphere. 

The inquiry into the origin and propagation of sheep, no less 
than of the silk-worm, may be justly regarded as a subject of 
the deepest interest. For the management and use of these 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 219 

animals has, from the earliest dawn of human history, formed 
a striking feature in the condition of man. Of the materials 
employed by the ancients for making cloth, by far the most im- 
portant was the wool of sheep. We are able to trace with great 
probability the process of sheep-breeding and of the use of wool 
for weaving. Among the bones of quadrupeds, found in an- 
cient caves throughout Europe, we cannot find on consulting 
the works of Cuvier, Buckland, and De la Beche, that remains 
of sheep have ever been discovered. This fact affords some 
reason for presuming, that the sheep is not a native of Europe, 
but has been introduced there by man. 

It appears to have been a general opinion among Zoologists, 
that the Argali, or Ovis Amnion of Linnaeus, which inhabits 
in vast numbers the elevated regions of Central Asia, is the 
primitive stock of the whole race of domesticated sheep. Agree- 
ably to this supposition we find, that from the earliest times the 
inhabitants of Tartary, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, 
and the North of Arabia, have been addicted to pastoral em- 
ployments. The tribes of wandering shepherds, which fre- 
quent those countries, are descended from progenitors, who led 
the same life thousands of years ago, and whose manners and 
habits are preserved to the present day with scarcely the slight- 
est change. 

As might be expected, we have little precise information re- 
specting the Scythians, who inhabited the elevated plains of 
inner Asia. Some of their hordes are distinguished by Herod- 
otus, Strabo, and others, under the name of Nomadic or pas- 
toral Scythians ; and that this denomination was understood 
to imply, that they tended sheep as well as larger cattle may 
be inferred from what Herodotus says of their use of felt (See 
Appendix B.). Strabo, moreover, says of a particular tribe of 
the Massage tee, that they had " few sheep," which implies that 
the rest were rich in flocks ; and of another tribe he says, 
" They do not till the ground, but derive their sustenance from 
sheep and fish, after the manner of the Nomadic Scythians*." 
But a much more distinct account of the manners of this people 

* Strabo, 1. xi. cap. 8. p. 486. ed. Siebenkees. 



220 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

is given us by Justin, who says, that they were accustomed to 
wander through uncultivated solitudes, always employed in 
tending herds and flocks (armenta et pecora). He, however, 
adds, that they were strangers to the use of woollen garments, 
being clothed in skins and furs*. Hence it appears, that they 
were too rude and ignorant to have acquired the arts of spin- 
ning and weaving. 

If we may trust to the authority of Strabo, the Medes did 
not tend sheep ; for he says of them, i: They eat the flesh of 
wild animals ; they do not bring up tame cattlet." Neverthe- 
less, their southern neighbors, the Persians, with whom they 
were united under one government, had sheep in abundance. 
These animals are strikingly represented in the bas-reliefs of 
Persepolis. In one of them, which represents a long proces- 
sion sculptured on the wall of a splendid staircase, two rams, 
attended by keepers, are accompanied in the same train by 
horses, asses, camels, and oxen+. Herodotus, in his account of 
the manners and institutions of the Persians (L. i. cap. 133.), 
mentions all these animals together in the following passage : 
"Of all days they are accustomed to observe most that on 
which each individual was born. On this day they set before 
their guests a more abundant feast than on any other. The 
wealthy provide an ox, a horse, a camel, and an ass, roasted 
whole in furnaces ; and the poor provide the smaller cattle." 
By " the smaller cattle" this author always means sheep and 
goats. 

The superior excellence of the rich plains of Mesopotamia for 
the pasture of sheep as well as oxen, is attested by Dionysius 
Periegetes§, and his account illustrates in an interesting man- 
ner the history of Jacob as contained in the book of Genesis, 



* Justin, 1. ii. cap. 2. t Strabo, 1. xi. cap 8. p. 567. 

t See Ancient Universal History, vol. vi. plates 6. 8. 

§ Oaar, 6' Eifpfirov, &c. 1. 992-996. 

In English, 

" As for the land, which lies between the Euphrates and the Tigris, called th© 
land Between the Rivers, the herdsman would not contemn its pastures, nor ha 
who tends flocks folded in the fields, and honors with his syrinx Pan who has 
horny hoofs." 



PASTORAL LIFE OP THE ANCIENTS. 221 

the rapid multiplication of the flocks and herds showing how 
well the soil and climate were adapted to this pursuit, and how 
well the business of tending them was there understood from 
the earliest times. Seldom do we find in any ancient author 
so beautiful a picture as is presented to us, when Jacob arrives 
at Padan-aram, and sees the flocks of sheep and goats assem- 
bling from the neighboring pastures in the evening to be wa- 
tered at the well. Rachel appears conducting the flock of her 
father Laban, which she tended, and Jacob rolls from the 
mouth of the well the stone, which was placed to preserve the 
water cool and fresh, and assists his relative and future bride 
in watering her sheep. (Gen. xxix. 1-10.) Also on Jacob's 
departure his remonstrance with Laban presents to us an ani- 
mated representation of the duties and difficulties of the shep- 
herd's life ; " These twenty years have I been with thee ; thy 
ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the 
rams of thy flock have I not eaten. That which was torn of 
beasts I brought not unto thee ; I bare the loss of it : of my 
hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by 
night. Thus I was ; in the day the drought consumed me, 
and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine 
eyes." (Gen. xxxi. 38-40.) 

From Ezekiel we learn, that Damascus supplied the Tyrians 
with wool*, and Jerome, who well knew the country, says in 
his comment on the passage, that this article was still produced 
there in his time (A. D. 378.)t. Aristotle, referring to the 



* " Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, 
for the multitude of all riches ; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool. Dan 
also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs : bright iron, cassia, and 
calamus, were in thy market. Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for 
chariots. Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in 
lambs, and rams, and goats : in these were they thy merchants. The merchants 
of Shebah and Raamah, they were thy merchants : they occupied in thy fairs 
with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. Haran, and Can- 
neh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy mer- 
chants. These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and 
Iroidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of 
cedar, among thy merchandise." — Ezekiel xxvii, 18-24. 

t " Et lana praecipua, quod usque hodie cernimus." 



222 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

sheep of Syria, mentions a variety with tails, which were a 
cubit broad* ; and Pliny in addition to this circumstance asserts 
generally the abundance of the Syrian woolf. Probably the 
part of Syria appropriated more especially to the breeding of 
sheep, was the eastern part, which bordered on Arabia, and 
was distinguished by the same natural features. 

In no part of the ancient world does sheep-breeding appear 
to have been more cultivated than in that which we are now 
approaching. Here were the Moabites, among whom it was a 
royal occupation, and, as it appears, the chief source of the 
revenues of the sovereign : for it is said in 2 Kings iii. 4. 
" Mesha, king of Moab, was a sheep-master, and rendered unto 
the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs and an hun- 
dred thousand rams with the wool." Here on occasion of a 
war, which the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of 
Manasseh, whose territory was to the east of Jordan, carried on 
against the Hagarites, they obtained as part of their booty 
250,000 sheep. (I. Chron. v. 21.) Here was Idumeea, in a 
part of which Job is represented to have dwelt, being possessed 
of 7,000, and afterwards of 14,000 sheep (Job i. 3. xlii. 12.) : 
and we have a beautiful allusion to the pastoral habits of the 
same country in the language of consolation employed by the 
prophet Micah (ii. 12.) ; " I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all 
of thee ; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel ; I will 
put them together as the sheep of Bosrah, as the flock in 
the midst of their fold : they shall make great noise by 
reason of the multitude of men." Here also were the Midian- 
ites, whose flocks were so vast, that the sheep taken from them 
by Moses after his victory amounted to 675,000. (Num. 
xxxi. 32.) Jethro, the priest of Midian, was himself the owner 
of a numerous flock, tended by his seven daughters, whom 
Moses assisted in watering them, when the neighboring shep- 
herds rudely attempted to drive them from the well. He after- 
wards married one of them, and was employed by the father as 
his shepherd ; and, having occasion according to the practice of 

* Hist. Animalium, I. viii. cap. 28. 

t Plinii Hist. Nat. I. viii. c. 75. ed. Bipont. See Appendix A. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 223 

the country to conduct the flock from the plains to pasture upon 
the mountains of Horeb, he was thence called to undertake his 
extraordinary mission for the deliverance of his nation. (Exod. 
ii. 15— iii. 1.) 

The Arabs appear from the earliest times to the present day 
to have bestowed no less attention upon sheep than upon 
horses. Isaiah also records the excellence of the sheep of Ara- 
bia in the following terms addressed by the Almighty to his 
people (Ch. lx. 7) : " All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered 
together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto 
thee : they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I 
will glorify the house of my glory." The habits of the Neba- 
teei, or Arabs of Nebaioth, are depicted as follows by Diodorus 
Siculus: "They live in the open air, and call a land their 
country, which is destitute of habitations, and has neither rivers 
nor copious fountains, such as could satisfy an army of inva- 
ders. Their law forbids them on pain of death either to sow 
corn, to plant fruit-trees, to use wine, or to build houses. 
They submit to this law, because they think, that those who 
enjoy such conveniences may for the sake of them be readily 
compelled by the powerful to do what they command. Some 
of them rear camels, and others sheep, which they pasture in 
the wilderness*." 

Various ancient authors mention that extraordinary variety 
of sheep among the Arabs, the tail of which grew to so great a 
size as to require to be supported on a wooden carriage, which 
was dragged after the wearert- 

We have no reason to believe, that the Phoenicians employed 
themselves in the breeding and pasture of sheep. The narrow 
strip of territory, which they occupied at the eastern extremity 
of the Mediterranean Sea, was in general too densely peopled 
to be adapted for this purpose. Their activity, intelligence, 

* Diod. Sic. 1. xix. 94. p. 722. ed. Steph. 

Strabo (1. xvi. cap. 4. p. 460. ed. Siebenkees.), speaking apparently of another 
division of the Nebataei, says they have large oxen, camels, and white sheep. 

t The passages of ancient authors relating to this variety, with various confir- 
mations from modern travellers, are quoted with his usual accuracy by Bochart, 
Hieroz. 1. ii. cap. 45. p. 494-497. Ed. Leusden. Lug. Bat. 1692. 



224 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

and enterprize were directed into other channels, and they sup- 
plied themselves from foreign countries with wool for their cele- 
brated manufactures. 

On the other hand, the Hebrews, who were the immediate 
neighbors of the Phoenicians, were altogether an agricultural and 
pastoral people. The history of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, presents to us beautiful images of the kind of life, 
which still continues with little variation among the Bedouins, 
or wandering Nomads of Arabia. Not only was David a 
shepherd boy ; but, when he had ascended the throne, he had 
numerous herds and flocks superintended by distinct officers. 
" And over the herds that fed in Sharon was Shitrai the Sha- 
ronite : and over the herds that were in the valleys was Sha- 
phat the son of Adlai. Over the camels also was Obil the Ish- 
maelite : and over the asses was Jehdeiah the Meronothite : 
and over the flocks was Jaziz the Hagarite. All these were 
the rulers of the substance which was king David's." (I. 
Chron. xxvii. 29-31. The reader cannot fail to call to mind 
David's frequent allusions in the Psalms to those employments, 
which were no less familiar to his own mind than to the rest 
of his countrymen, and which supplied to them the most touch- 
ing comparisons for the expression of their deepest religious 
convictions. The passage " The Lord is my shepherd : I shall 
not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures : he 
leadeth me beside the still waters. Yea though I walk through 
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil ; for thou 
art with me ; thy rod (or crook) and thy staff, they comfort 
me" (Psalm xxiii. 1, 2, 4.). " He shall feed {i. e. tend) his 
flock like a shepherd ; he shall gather the lambs with his arm,, 
and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that 
are with young" (Is. xl. ii.). " The pastures are clothed with 
flocks," an expression denoting the vast multitudes of sheep, 
which overspread the mountains and plains (Ps. lxv. 13.). 
" Be thou diligent," says Solomon, " to know the state of thy 
flocks, and look well to thy herds. The lambs are for thy 
clothing, and the goats are the price of thy field ; and thou 
shalt have goat's milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy 
household, and for the maintenance of thy maidens" (Prov. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 225 

xxvii. 23. 26, 27.). We would particularly refer the reader to 
the thirty-fourth chapter of Ezekiel, where the prophet, repri- 
manding the rulers of Israel under the character of shepherds, 
makes some allusion to every circumstance connected with the 
care of sheep and goats. Language very similar is employed 
by our Saviour in John x. where he speaks of himself as " the 
good shepherd." The whole system and history of the sacri- 
fices both before and after the giving of the Mosaic law, might 
be produced to prove the pastoral habits of this people from the 
earliest times. The districts of Bashan and Carmel, seem to 
have attained the highest reputation in respect to the breeding 
of sheep. Bashan, which lay to the east of the Jordan in the 
country adjoining that of the Hagarites and Moabites, already 
mentioned, and Carmel, the mountainous range near the Dead 
Sea in the south of Judea. In the latter district Nabal kept 
his flocks, and as he is said to have been " very great," and we 
are at the same time informed that " he had 3000 sheep and 
1000 goats" (I. Sam. xxv. 2.), these numbers afford us a pre- 
cise idea of the wealth of a considerable proprietor in this re- 
spect. That the " rams of the breed of Bashan," were particu- 
larly celebrated, we learn from Deut. xxxii. 14 ; and Ezekiel 
mentions with distinction (ch. xxxix. 18.) a sacrifice " of rams, 
of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of 
Bashan." 

It is impossible to conceive a more striking difference in 
manners and institutions, than that which must have presented 
itself to the traveller in very ancient times, when on crossing the 
Isthmus of Suez he passed from the deserts of Arabia and Idumsea 
to the richly cultivated and populous plains of Egypt. According 
to the statement already quoted from an ancient historian the 
wandering tribes of Nabaioth were forbidden by a positive law 
to till the ground or to construct settled habitations, and they 
lived on the produce of their flocks, which they continually led 
from place to place in pursuit of pasture adapted to the season of 
the year. The Egyptians, on the contrary, appear to have 
been originally under a prohibition of exactly the opposite kind, 
since they cultivated the ground with care, excelled most other 
nations in all the arts of life, and produced the most splendid 

29 



226 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

proofs of their architectural skill, but were not allowed to keep 
flocks of sheep and goats. That this was the case at the time, 
when Jacob took his family to sojourn in Egypt, is evident from 
their application to Pharaoh on arriving in the land of Goshen, 
which was on the eastern border of Egypt adjoining Palestine 
and Arabia, to be permitted to remain there on the ground, that 
from their youth they had been accustomed to tend flocks, 
whereas " every shepherd was an abomination to the Egyp- 
tians*." 

It appears that the Nabatsean law was far more effectual 
towards the attainment of its object than the Egyptian. For, 
whereas the pastoral tribes of Arabia have retained their inde- 
pendence and their national peculiarities even to the present 
day ; the Egyptians, on the other hand, became a prey to for- 
eign invasion, and among other changes in their customs we 
have to notice the introduction of the management of sheep. 
Even as early as the time of Moses the practice had commen- 
ced ; for in the account of the effects of the murrain in Exodus 
ix. 3, we find mention of sheep, and indeed it is remarkable, 
that the domestic animals there enumerated, viz. horses, asses, 
camels, oxen, and sheep, are exactly the same, which, as we 
have before shown, were bred by the ancient Persianst. Later 
historians afford distinct testimony to the same fact. Thus 
Diodorus Siculus says, that " upon the subsidence of the waters 
after the inundation of the Nile the flocks were admitted to 
pasture, and the produce of the soil was so abundant, that the 
sheep were not only shorn twice, but also brought forth young 
twice in the year." Herodotus also plainly supposes, that sheep 
and goats were bred in Egypt, when he contrasts the inhab- 
itants of the Theban Nome, who worshipped Ammon, with 
the inhabitants of the Mendesian Nome, who worshipped 
Mendes. The former, he says, " all abstain from sheep, and 
sacrifice goats ;" the latter " abstain from goats, which they 
hold in veneration, and sacrifice sheep." He, however, men- 



* Gen. xlvi. 28. — xlvii. 6. Compare Josephus, Ant. ii. 7. 5. 
t It should be observed, that the Hebrew word translated sheep in Ex. ix. 3. 
included goats. 



PASTORAL LIFE OP THE ANCIENTS. 227 

lions that the Thebans slew a ram once a year on occasion of 
a particular ceremony, which he describes (ii. 42. 46.). The 
testimony of Strabo and Plutarch, though differing in some 
particulars from that of Herodotus, is to the same general ef- 
fect. Aristotle (Z. c.) mentions, that the sheep of Egypt were 
larger than those of Greece. 

But, although these passages show, that sheep were bred in 
Egypt, we think it evident that their number was very limited. 
Egyptian wool cannot have been of the least importance as an 
article of commerce. What was produced must also have been 
consumed in the country. For, although the chief material for 
the clothing of the Egyptians was linen, and they were forbid- 
den to be buried in woollen or to use it in the temples, yet He- 
rodotus (ii. 81.) states, that on ordinary occasions they wore a 
garment of white wool over their linen shirt. They also used 
wool for embroidering. According to Pliny* the Egyptian wool 
was coarse and of a short staple. Tertullian records a saying 
of the Egyptians, that Mercury invented the spinning of wool 

in their countryt. 

Strabo in an instructive manner contrasts the Ethiopians with 
the Egyptians. Having observed, that the boundary between 
the two nations was the smaller cataract above Syene and 
Elephantine, he says, that the Ethiopians led for the most part 
a pastoral life without resources, both on account of their in- 
temperate climate and the poverty of their soil, and also because 
they were remote from the civilized world ; whereas the Egyp- 
tians had always lived in a refined manner and under a regu- 
lar government, settled in fixed habitations, and cultivating 
philosophy, agriculture, and the artst Thus do we find the 
nomad life recurring immediately to the south of Egypt. Stra- 
bo further states, that the Ethiopian sheep were small, and in- 
stead of being woolly were hairy like goats, on which account 
the people wore skins instead of woollen cloth§. That these 



* Hist Nat. 1. viii. 73. See Appendix A. t De Pallio, c. 3. 

t Strabo, 1. xvii. c. 1. § 3. p. 476, 477. ed. Siebenkees. 

& Cap. 2. § 1. 3. p. 621. 626. Strabo's account is illustrated and confirmed by 
the traveller, Dr. Shaw, who describes a variety of sheep in the interior of Africa 



228 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

sheep were held in some estimation by the Egyptians is, how- 
ever, manifest from the fact, that in the splendid procession ex- 
hibited at Alexandria by Ptolemy Philadelphus, there were 130 
sheep from Ethiopia, 300 from Arabia, and 20 from Euboea*. 
Also, that the pastoral habits of the Ethiopians were known to 
the Romans may be inferred from the allusion, which Virgil 
makes to them in his Tenth Eclogue (1. 64-68.) : 

No toils of ours can change the cruel god, 
Though we should flee him through eaoh new abode ; 
Whether we drink, where chilling Hebrus flows, 
And winter reigns amid Sithonian snows ; 
Or, where the elms beneath hot Cancer bend, 
Our Ethiopian sheep we fainting tend. 

We find, that the people of Libya had attained to some dis- 
tinction in the management of flocks. What Diodorus says of 
the Egyptian sheep is asserted by Aristotle of those of Libya, 
viz. that they produced young twice in the yeart. That sheep- 
breeding had extended hither in very early times appears from 
a passage in the Odyssey, which, however, in consequence of 
the remoteness of the situation and the imperfect knowledge of 
geography in the time of the writer, is mixed with fable, inas- 
much as it represents, that the ewes brought forth not only 
twice, but even three times in the year, and that the lambs 
were immediately provided with horns t 

That happy clime ! where each revolving year 
The teeming ewes a triple offspring bear, 
And two fair crescents of translucent horn 
The brows of all their young increase adorn ; 
The shepherd swains, with sure abundance blest, 
On the fat flock and rural dainties feast ; 
Nor want of herbage makes the dairy fail, 
But every season fills the foaming pail. 

Pope's Translation. 

Pindar [Pyth. ix. 11.) distinguishes Libya by the epithet 
wov^Xos, " abounding in flocks." To the same district of Africa, 

with " fleeces as coarse and hairy as those of the goat." — Travels in Barbary, 
part iii. chap. 2. § 1. 

* Callixenus Rhodius, apud Athenaeum, 1. v. p. 201. ed. Casaub. 

t Aristot. Problem, cap. x. sec. 46. $ Odyss. iv. 85-89. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS 229 

Virgil alludes in the following passage of the Georgics, which 
is surpassed by few as a happy example of the art of the poet 
in describing the various modes of pastoral life. 

WJiy should I sing of Libya's artless swains ; 
Her scatter'd cottages and trackless plains? 
By day, by night, without a destined home, 
For many a month their flocks all lonely roam •, 
So vast th' unbounded solitude appears, 
While, with his flock, his all the shepherd bears, 
His arms, his household god, his homely shed, 
His Cretan darts, and dogs of Sparta bred. 

Georg. iii. 339-345. — Warton's Translation. 

It is to be observed, that, although the Libyan shepherd ac- 
cording to Virgil's description led a migratory life, conducting 
his sheep from place to place in search of pasture, yet the scale, 
upon which he carried on his operations, was widely different 
from that which has always characterized the nomadic tribes 
of Asia. The poet represents the Libyan shepherd as a soli- 
tary wanderer, bearing with him all his arms and implements, 
just as a Roman soldier (1. 346.) carried his military accoutre- 
ments. On the other hand, as we have seen, the Syrian or 
Arabian shepherd goes in a kind of state, with camels and 
horses to carry his wife and children, his tents, and the rest of 
his equipage ; and he is followed by thousands, instead of hun- 
dreds or perhaps scores, of sheep and goats. 

Let us now pursue the progress of this employment in an- 
other direction, viz. towards the north-west, and across the Eux- 
ine Sea and the straits connected with it into Europe. 

Near the eastern extremity of the Euxine Sea we meet with 
a very remarkable instance of the attention paid to the produce 
and manufacture of wool in a tribe called the Coraxi. Strabo 
alludes to the value of their fleeces in a passage which we shall 
produce in speaking of the wool of Spain, to which it more di- 
rectly refers. At present we shall only consider the following 
evidence preserved by Joannes Tzetzes. 

Td naSaiov ircpi irrpUjivas ijj> rrj MiA?jr<3 ^j/^jj' 
"Epia ra MiA^o-ia KaWiura yap rcov Travruv, 
Kpv c5crt t&v Kopa^ucdv <pipovra devTepeia*. 

* Jo. Tzetzes, Chiliad, x. 348-350, in Lectii Corp. Poetarum Gracorum. 



230 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

" Anciently Miletus was famed for carpets : for of all fleeces the Milesian were 
the most beautiful, although the Coraxic bore the second prize." 

Tlepl tSiv MtXi)cr(£ji/ e<pav iraWoi tptuv 
Jlepl ipiasv Kopdfa)i> ev irpuru) Sc 'Ia/i/?c3 
'lirirwval- ovtcjs e'ipriice, jxerpa y^uXav 'lapflcoVj 
T^wpa^iKov jiiv riiiipiea^evri XaJ7roj.* 

" Of the Milesian fleeces many have spoken : and to the Coraxic Hipponax 
has alluded in his Choliambic measure, where he mentions ' a woman enveloped 
in a Coraxic shawl.' " 

Hipponax, who is here cited by Tzetzes, was a satirical poet 
of Ephesus, and flourished about 540 B. C. In confirmation 
of his testimony it may be proved, that his countrymen and 
contemporaries had constant intercourse with a port in the 
vicinity of the Coraxi. We learn from Pliny (1. vi. cap. 5.)f, 
that the Coraxi were situated near Dioscuri as, which, though 
deserted in his time, had been formerly so illustrious that 300 
nations, speaking different languages, resorted to it. As we 
learn from other authorities, Dioscurias was a colon]/ of Mile- 
tus and one of its chief settlements. Miletus also in the time of 
Hipponax had risen to the summit of its prosperity, and was the 
greatest commercial city in the world next to Tyre and Car- 
thaget Its chief trade was towards the north and as far as the 
extremity of the Euxine Sea. Among the numerous Asiatic 
tribes, which were accustomed to bring their productions to Dios- 
curias and exchange them for Grecian merchandise, the Coraxi 
were, as we may conclude from the evidence now produced, a 
nation of superior enterprize and intelligence, who sent to the 
shores of the iEgean in the vessels of Miletus their fine wool, 
as well as the carpets and shawls, which they made from it. 

If we had no more exact information than that which has 
been already cited, we might infer, that the Coraxi occupied 
part of the modern Circassia, a mountainous region admirably 
adapted to the breeding of sheep. The Circassians of the pres- 
ent day have numerous herds of cattle and vast flocks of sheep 
and goats. Their vallies are distinguished by beauty and fer- 
tility. A late traveller says, that from whatever country you 

* lb. 378-381. t See Appendix A. 

X Heeren, Handbuch, iii. 2. 2. p. 185. Mannert, Geographie, 6. 3. p. 253, &c. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 231 

enter Circassia, " you are at once agreeably impressed with 
the decided improvement in the appearance of the popula- 
tion, the agriculture, and the beauty of their flocks and 
herds*." With respect to Dioscurias. we are informed, that 
" the memory of its ancient name is still preserved in the pres- 
ent appellation of Iskouriahf." Sir John Chardin, who visited 
it and calls it Isgaour, commends its safety in summer as a road 
for ships, but says that it is a complete desert, where he could 
obtain no provisions, the traders who anchor there being obliged 
to construct temporary huts and booths of the boughs of trees 
for their accommodation, whilst awaiting the arrival of the na- 
tives of Mingrelia and Caucasus*. 

But, besides the general inference that the Coraxi occupied 
part of the modern Circassia, we are able to determine their 
abode with still greater precision, and even obtain some insight 
into their distinctive characters as a nation. 

At the south-eastern extremity of Chirkess, or Circassia, on 
the northern declivity of Mount Elborus, and about the sources 
of the Kuban, the ancient Hypanis, we find a mountain clan, 
consisting of rather more than 250 families, which appears to 
retain not only the manners and habits, but even the very 
name of the Coraxi. Julius von Klaproth, to whom we are 
principally indebted for our knowledge of them, calls them the 
Caratshai§. From him we learn the following particulars re- 
specting their appearance, manners, and employments. They 



* Travels in Cireassia, &c. in 1835, by Edmund Spencer, Esq., vol. ii. p. 355. 
Julius von Klaproth, in the work quoted below, says, (p. 582.), that the wealth 
of the Circassians consists principally in their sheep, from whose wool the women 
make coarse cloth and felt. In the summer they drive their sheep into the moun- 
tains, but feed them under cover in winter, and at other times in the plains. 

t Dr. Goodenough, in Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. i. p. 110. 
See also Major Rennell's Map of Western Asia. 

t Chardin's Travels, vol. i. p. 77. 108. of the English Translation. London, 1 G86. 

4 Reise in den Caucasus, cap. 24. The author thus spells the name in German 
characters, Ckaratschai. Father Lamberti, a missionary from the Society of the 
Propaganda at Naples, who remained twenty years in that part of Asia in the 
seventeenth century, calls them " i Caraccioli," in which name we observe the 
addition of an Italian termination. See his Relatione della Colchide, hoggi delta 
Mengrelia, Napoli, 1654, cap. 28. p. 196. 



232 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

are among the most beautiful of the inhabitants of Caucasus, 
and more like the Georgians than the wandering Tartars of 
the Steppe. They are well formed, and have fine features ', 
which are set off by large black eyes and a white skin. 
Their language resembles that of the Nogay-Tartars. They 
live in very neat houses, built of pine. Their children are 
strictly and well educated ; and in general it may be said of 
them, that they are the most cultivated nation in Caucasus, 
surpassing all their neighbors in refinement of manners. They 
are very industrious, and subsist chiefly by agriculture. Their 
soil is productive, and, besides various kinds of grain, yields 
abundance of grass for pasture. The country around them is 
covered with woods, which abound with wild animals, such as 
bears, wolves, wild goats, hares, and wild cats, whose skins are 
much prized, and martins. Their dress is chiefly made of 
woollen cloth, which they weave themselves from the produce 
of their flocks, and which is admired throughout the whole 
of Caucasus. They sell their cloth, called by them Shal*, 
their felt for carpeting, and their furs, partly to the Nogay- 
Tartars and Circassians, from whom they purchase articles of 
metal, and partly at Souchom-Kale, a Turkish fort on the 
Black Sea, which contains shops and ware-houses, and carries 
on a considerable trade with the Western Caucasus. They re- 
ceive here in return goods of cotton and silk, tobacco and to- 
bacco-pipes, needles, thimbles, and otter-skins. While the men 
are employed out of doors, the women stay at home, make 
gold and silver thread, and sew the clothes of their fathers and 
brothers. 

Such is the account given by a recent and most competent 
witness of the actual condition of this interesting nation, who, 
though now perhaps reduced in number, occupy probably after 
the lapse of 2500 years their original seat at the distance of 
from forty to eighty miles to the north-east of the same coast, 
to which they have always resorted for commercial purposes!. 

* The origin of the English shawl. 

t Souchom-Kale" is only twelve miles from Iscuria, a single promontory inter- 
vening between the bay and river of the former harbor and those of the latter. 
See Spencer's Travels, vol. i. p. 295-297, and his Map at p. 209. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 



233 



We cannot survey the now deserted Iscuria without observ- 
ing, what a mournful contrast the Euxine presents under the 
sway of both Russia and Turkey to the useful energy, which 
more than 2000 years ago promoted life and the arts of life, 
and brought into close and peaceful contact the most refined 
and the most uncultivated nations, under the direction of the 
Ionians of Miletus. The beauty, the bravery, the activity, 
and the independence of a highland clan still represent the skill 
and enterprize of the ancient Coraxi ; but the commerce, 
which rewarded their industry, and extended their reputation 
through the civilized world, has sunk into insignificance. 

Besides the above notices of the Coraxi in Strabo and Tzet- 
zes we find little said concerning the breeding of sheep in this 
part of Asia. Aristotle, however, mentions the sheep of " Pon- 
tus near Scythia," and says that they were without horns*. 
The Melanchkeni also, who are mentioned by Herodotus in his 
account of the Scythian tribes, and who lived to the north of 
the Coraxi, were so called, because they wore black palls. 

There can be no doubt, that the use and management of 
sheep were known from the earliest times throughout nearly 
the whole of Asia Minor, and that some nations in this region 
had attained to a superiority in the art before the settlement in 
it of the Grecian colonists. 

The imagery of the Homeric poems (supposed to be written 
about 900 B. C.) affords abundant evidence of these facts. 
They continually mention shepherds, who had the care of 
sheep, as well as goat-herds, who managed goats. They speak 
of the folds, in which the flocks were secured at night to pre- 
serve them from the attacks of wild beasts. The dangers to 
which the flocks were exposed from both wolves and lions, are 
in accordance with similar expressions and incidents in the 
Scriptures of the Old Testament, arising from the existence of 
the same ravenous and destructive quadrupeds in Palestine. 
Also, the language both of the Scriptures and of the Homeric 
poems is precisely the same, in which the king ruling his peo- 
ple is compared to the shepherd tending his flock, or to the 

* Hist. Anim. viii. 28. 

30 



234 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

strong and large ram, which leads the sheep*. It is to be ob- 
served, that the geographical knowledge expressed in the Ho- 
meric poems extended as far as the promontory of Carambis 
on the south coast of the Euxine Sea, and included all Phrygia, 
Ionia, and the western half of Asia Minor. 

The Greek mythology affords similar evidence. The well- 
known story of Paris, adjudging the golden apple, is founded on 
the pastoral scenes of Ida. Marsyas also was a shepherd on 
mount Idat: the river Marsyas, famed for his contest with 
Apollo, was among the Phrygian mountains}:. 

The historical evidence to which we now proceed, though re- 
ferring to times much posterior to the mythological, is more ex- 
act as well as more entitled to absolute credit. 

According to Strabo the branches of Mount Taurus in 
Pisidia were rich in pastures "for all kinds of cattle§." The 
chief town of this region was Selge, a very flourishing city, 
and hence Tertullian, in a passage, mentions " oves Selgicee," 
Selgic sheep, among those of the greatest celebrity. The su- 
perior whiteness of the fleeces of Pamphylia is mentioned by 
Philostratus. 

We have reason to believe, that the Lydians and Carians 
bestowed the greatest attention on sheep-breeding and on the 
woollen manufacture before the arrival of the Greek colonists 
among them. The new settlers adopted the employments of 
the ancient inhabitants, and made those employments subser- 
vient to a very extensive and lucrative trade. Pliny (viii. 73. 



* See Bochart's Hierozoiicon, I. ii. cap. 44. De Gregum Pastoribus. 

t Hyginus, Fab. 165. 

X It appears not impossible, that, when Theocritus in Idyll, iii. 46, represents 
Adonis as " tending flocks upon the mountains," ho may have referred to the 
mountains of Phrygia or of Ionia. For in another Idyll, (i. 105-110,) he seems 
to connect the love of Venus for Adonis with her love for Anchises, as if the 
scene of both were in the same region. Among the various accounts of Adonis, 
one makes him the offspring of Smyrna ; and Cinyras, the father of Adonis, is 
said to have founded the city of Smyrna in Ionia, calling it by that name af- 
ter his daughter. (Hyginus, Fab. 58 and 275.) This supposition accounts most 
satisfactorily for the production of the beautiful elegy on the death of Adonis by 
Bion, who was a native of Smyrna. 

§ Lib. xii. c. 7, § 3. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 235 

ed. Bip.) mentions the wool of Laodicea (See Appendix A.) in 
Caria; and Strabo (xii. c. 7. p. 578. Casaub.) observes, that 
the country about this city and Colossae, which was not far from 
it, produced sheep highly valued on account of the fineness and 
the color of their fleeces. 

Aristophanes mentions a pall, made " of Phrygian fleeces* :" 
and Varro asserts, that in his time there were many flocks of 
wild sheep in Phrygiat. 

The passages above quoted from Strabo and Joannes Tzetzes 
allude to the very great celebrity of the wool of Miletus and 
of the articles woven from it. 

The passages, which will now be produced from both Greek 
and Latin authors of various ages, conspire to prove the distin- 
guished excellence of the wool of Miletus, although in many 
of them the epithet Milesian may be employed only in a pro- 
verbial acceptation to denote wool of the finest quality. The 
animals, which yielded this wool, must have been bred in the 
interior of Ionia not far from Miletus. 

Ctesias describes the softness of camels'-hair by comparing it 
to Milesian fleeces*. A woman in Aristophanes (Lysist. 732.) 
says, she must go home to spread her Milesian fleeces on the 
couch, because the worms were gnawing them. In a fragment 
of a Greek comedy, called Procris, of a somewhat later age 
(ap. Athen. 1. xii. p. 553), a favorite lap-dog is described, lying 
on Milesian fleeces ; 

Qvkovv xmo(rropuTe fiaXaKus ru> kvvi' 
Korto jilv viro0a\tTTS tup MiX^iticoi' 
'Epitov. 

Therefore make a soft bed for the dog : throw down for him Milesian fleeces. 

The Sybarites wore shawls of Milesian wool§. Palsephatus 
explains the fable of the Hesperides by saying, that their father 
Hesperus was a Milesian, and that they had beautiful sheep, 
such as those which were still kept at Miletus ||. Eustathius 
says, the " Milesian carpets^" had become proverbial. Virgil 

* Aves, 492. t De Re Rustica, ii. 1. 

t Ctesise fragmenta, a Ba.hr, p. 224. 

§ Timaeus apud Athenaeum, xii. p. 519. B. |] De Incred. § 19. 

V In Dionysium, v. 823. 



236 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

represents the nymphs of Cyrene spinning Milesian fleeces, 
dyed of a deep sea-green color : 

The nymphs, around her placed, their spindles ply, 
And draw Milesian wool, of glassy dye. 

Georg. iv. 334. 

He also alludes to the high price of Milesian fleeces in the 
following passage : 

Let rich Miletus vaunt her fleecy pride, 

And weigh with gold her robes in purple dyed. 

Georg. iii. 306. — Sotheby's Translation. 

The comment of Servius on the latter passage is as follows : 

Milesian fleeces, most valuable wools ; for Miletus is a city of Asia, where the 
best wools are dyed. 

The ancient Greek version of Ezekiel (xxvii. 18.) enume- 
rates Milesian fleeces among the articles of Tyrian importa- 
tion. 

Columella (vii. 2.) and Pliny (viii. 48.) assert the celebrity of 
the flocks of Miletus in former times, although in their time 
they were surpassed by the sheep of some other countries. 

In soft Milesian wool as fine as possible. — Hippocrates, vol.i. p. 689. ed. Fcesii. 

Ye are hairs of sheep, although Miletus may boast of you, and Italy be in high 
repute, and though the hairs be guarded under skins. — Clemens Alexandrinus, 
Peed. ii. 30. 

Lying on Milesian carpets. — Aristoph. Ranae, 1. 548. 

Nor do I speak of the sheep of Miletus and Selge and Altinum, nor of those, 
for which Tarentum and Bsetica are famous, and which are colored by nature. 
— Tertullian de Pallio, 3. 

If, from the beginning the Milesians were occupied in shearing sheep, the Se- 
res in spinning the produce of trees, the Tyrians in dyeing, the Phrygians in 
embroidering, and the Babylonians in weaving. — Tertullian de Habitu Muliebri. 

We may now notice Samos, as being near the Ionic coast. 
Atheneeus (xii. p. 540. D.) cites two ancient authors who assert 
that, when Poly crates was introducing into Samos the most ex- 
cellent of the different breeds of animals, he chose the dogs of 
Laconia and Molossis, the goats of Scyros and Naxos, and the 
sheep of Miletus and Attica. 

Respecting the breeding of sheep in /Samos it may be proper 
to quote the remark of iElian (Hist. Anim. xii. 40.), that the 



PASTORAL LIFE OP THE ANCIENTS. 237 

Samians gave some religious honor to this animal, because a 
consecrated utensil of gold, which had been stolen from one of 
their temples, was discovered by a sheep. 

It appears probable, that the shepherd life was established in 
Thrace as early as in any part of Europe ; for in the Homeric 
poems it is called " the mother of flocks" (II. v. 222.). In a 
much later age the sheep of Thrace are montioned by Nicander 
(Nicand. Ther. 50.). We learn from Plato (De Legibus, 1. vii. 
p. 36. ed. Bekker) that in Thrace the flocks were entrusted to 
the care of the women, who were there compelled like slaves to 
work out of doors. 

Aristotle speaks of the sheep of Magnesia, and says that 
they brought forth young twice a year*. 

A little further south we find sheep from the earliest times in 
Thessaly near the river Amphrysus. Here was Iton, which 
Homer also calls " the mother of flocksf ." It was celebrated 
for a temple of Minerva, who was called from it Ttonis, or 
ItoniaX, and whose worship was transferred from hence to 
Baeotia. 

That Euboea was famous for sheep we know from the testi- 
mony of two different authors cited by Athenaeus. That of 
Callixenus Rhodius has been already produced ; and that of 
Hermippus occurs in his metrical enumeration of the most ex- 
cellent and characteristic productions of •different countries§. 

Baeotia appears from very early times to have been rich in 
flocks. The tragic history of (Edipus supposes, that his father 
Laius, the king of Thebes, had flocks on Mount Cithseron. Ac- 
cording to Sophocles (CEd. Tyr. 1026-1140.) (Edipus was deliver- 
ed to one of the royal shepherds to be there exposed, and this 
shepherd through pity committed him to another, and thus saved 
his life II. Seneca in his free version of Sophocles ((Ed. Act. iv. 
v. 815-850.) has added a circumstance, as it appears, from the 

* Problem, cap. x. sec. 46. t II. B. 696. 

% Strabo, 1. ix. c. 2. § 29. p. 458 ; and c. 5. § 14. p. 614. ed. Siebenkees. Apol- 
lonius Rhodius, Argon, i. 551 ; and Schol. ad locum. Alceei Reliquiae, a Math- 
thiae, No. 54. 

§ Athen. Deip. 1. i. p. 27. D. 

|| This transaction is represented in Plate VIII. Fig. 5. 



238 



SHEEP BREEDING AND 



practice established in other cases. He says, that the shepherd 
of Laius, whom he calls Phorbas, had many others under him. 
But, although it may be doubted whether the flocks of Laius were 
so numerous as to require a head shepherd placed over many 
others, we learn that his possessions of this description excited 
contest and warfare among his descendants. Their country- 
man, Hesiod, represents them fighting at the gates of Thebes 
" for the flocks of CEdipus" (Op. et Dies, 163.), an expression, 
which must at least be understood to imply, that sheep consti- 
tuted a principal part of the king's wealth. 

Among the Elgin marbles in the British Museum we have an 
interesting inscription relating to a contract made between the 
city of Orchomenos in Boeotia and Eubulus of Elatea in Phocis, 
according- to which Eubulus was to have for four years the 
right of pasturage for 4 cows, 200 mares, 20 sheep, and 
1000 goats. In the opinion of Professors Bockh* and Ottfried 
Miillert this inscription may be referred to the time of the Pel- 
oponnesian war. The supposed effect of the waters of the 
Melas and Cephisos on the fleeces of sheep is a testimony of a 
much later date, but proves that sheep, both black and white, 
were bred in that countryt Varro (De Re Rust. ii. 2.) mentions 
the practice of covering sheep with skins in order to improve 
and preserve their fleeces. The Attic sheep, thus clothed with 
skins, are mentioned by Demosthenes under the name of " soft 
sheep§." The hilly part of Attica was of course particularly 
adapted for sheep as well as goats ; and accordingly a letter of 
Alciphron (iii. 41.) describes flocks of them at Decelia near 
Mount Parnes about fifteen miles to the north of Athens. The 
fame of the Attic wool is also alluded to by Plutarch (De au- 



* Corpus Inscrip. Graecar., vol. i. p. 740. f Orchomenos, p. 471. 

X Vitruvius, viii. 3. p. 218. ed. Schneider. See also DodwelPs Tour, vol. i. p. 
242. It was imagined that the water of the Melas rendered the wool black, and 
that of the Cephisos white. 

Dr. Sibthorp, in crossing the plain of Boeotia near Platasa in November A. D. 
1794, says, " Flocks of sheep, whose fleeces were of remarkable blackness, were 
feeding in the plain ; the breed was considerably superior in beauty and size to 
that of Attica." — Walpole's Memoirs on Eur. and As. Turkey, p. 65. 

§ Contra Everg. et Mnesid. p. 1155. ed. Reiske. 



PASTORAL LIFE OP THE ANCIENTS. 239 

diendo, p. 73. ed. Steph.), and by the Roman poet Laberius, 
who died in the year 43 B. C. 

No matter whether in soft Attic wool, 
Or in rough goats' -hair you be clothed*. 

We learn from Theocritus, that the shepherds of Acharnee, 
one of the Attic demi, excelled in playing on the pipet. 

In the adjoining country of Megaris was a temple of great 
antiquity in honor of A^mp Ma\o<p6 P os. It was said, that Ceres 
was worshipped under that title, The bringer op flocks, 
by those who first kept sheep in the country t. Theognis (v. 
55.) mentions, that the people of Megaris used before his time 
to wear goat-skins, which shows the late introduction of the 
growth and manufacture of wool. Here, as in Attica, it was 
usual to protect the sheep with skins ; and, as the boys were 
sometimes seen naked after the Doric fashion, Diogenes, the 
cynic, said in reference to these practices, he would rather be 
the ram of a Megarensian than his so?i§. 

In the Peloponnesus, Arcadia was always remarkable for 
the attention paid to sheep. 

Arcadia claims our especial consideration, because in it the 
shepherd life assumed that peculiar form, which has been the 
subject of so much admiration both in ancient and modern 
times. Here the lively genius and imaginative disposition 
common to the Greek nation were directed to the daily contem- 
plation of the most beautiful and romantic varieties of moun- 
tain and woodland scenery, and hence their employments, their 
pleasures, and their religion, all acquired a rustic character, 
highly picturesque and tasteful, and, as it appears to us, gene- 
rally favorable to the development of the domestic and social 
virtues. To attempt a full investigation of this subject, and to 
show in what degree the want of higher attainments in relig- 
ious knowledge and moral cultivation was supplied by the pe- 
culiar rites, ideas, and customs of Arcadia, would lead us too 
far from our proper subject. We only wish to bring forward 

* Apud Non. Marcellum. t Idyll, vii. 71. % Paus. i. 44. 4. 

§ Diog. Laert. vi. 41. iEliani Var. Hist. xii. 56. 



240 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

the principal facts and authorities, and to give a succint ac- 
count of the genuine Arcadian system of religion and manners 
without attempting to refute at length the opposite views, 
which have been adopted by ancient and modern writers. 

The peculiar Divinity of Arcadia, whose worship had a con- 
stant and manifest reference to the principal employments of 
the inhabitants, was Pan. Hence he is called by Virgil and 
Propertius " the God of Arcadia*." According to Herodotus 
(ii. 145.), Pan, the son of Mercury (who was bom at Cyllene 
in Arcadia, where Mercury was previously worshipped,) first 
saw the light after the Trojan war, and about 800 years before 
his own time. Thus we are able to refer the "supposed birth of 
Pan, and consequently the commencement of his worship to 
about the year 1260 B. C.t. 

The circumstances of the birth of this divinity, with his hab- 
its and employments, are described as follows in the most an- 
cient document which we have relating to him, viz. Homer's 
Hymn to Pan. Mercury tended rough flocks at Cyllene in 
the service of a mortal man, being enamored of a beautiful 
nymph. In the course of time she bore him a son, having the 
feet of a goat, two horns upon his forehead, a long shaggy 
beard, and a bewitching smile. This was Pan, who became 
the god of the shepherds, and the companion of the mountain 
nymphs, penetrating through the densest thickets, and inhabit- 
ing the most wild, rough, and lofty summits of the sylvan Ar- 
cadia. There it is his business to destroy the wild beasts ; 
and when, having returned from hunting, he drives his 
sheep into a cave, he plays upon his reeds a tune sweet as 
the song of any bird in spring. The nymphs, delighting in 
melody, listen to him when they go to the dark fountain, and 
the god sometimes appears among them, wearing on his back 
the hide of a lynx, which he has lately killed, and he joins with 
them in the choral song and dance upon a meadow variegated 
with the crocus and the hyacinth. He is beloved by Bacchus, 



* Virg. Buc. x. 26. and Georg. iii. 385. See also Propert. i. 17 
t Hist. d'Herodote, par Larcher, tome vii. p. 359. 582. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 241 

and is the delight of his father Mercury, and he celebrates their 
worship beyond that of all the other gods. 

Callimachus (Hymn, in Dianam, 88.) represents Pan at his 
fold in Arcadia, feeding his dogs with the flesh of a lynx, which 
he has caught on Msenalus. It is to be observed, that the care 
of dogs to guard the flock was an indispensable part of the pas- 
toral office. Philostratus, in his Second Book of Pictures*, sup- 
poses the nymphs to have been reproving Pan for his want of 
grace in dancing, telling him that he leapt too high and like 
a goat, and offering to teach him a more gentle method. He 
pays no attention to them, but tries to catch hold of them. 
Upon this they surprise him sleeping at noon after the toils of 
the chase ; and he is represented in the picture with his arms 
tied behind him, and enraged and struggling against them, 
while they are cutting off his beard and trying to transform 
his legs and to humanize him. 

In the Bucolics and Georgics of Yirgil we find frequent invo- 
cations to Pan as the god of. shepherds, the guardian of flocks, 
and the inventor of the syrinx, or Pandean pipes. 

Ipse, nemus linquens patrium, saltusque Lycsei, 
Pan, ovium custos, tna si tibi MsMiala curie, 
Adsis, O Tegease, favens. 

Georg. i. 16-18. 

God of the fleece, whom grateful shepherds love, 
Oh, leave Lycseus and thy father's grove ; 
And if thy Mcenalus yet claim thy care, 
Hear, Tegesean Pan, th' invoking prayer. 

Georg. i. 16-18. 

Delightful Maenalus, 'mid echoing groves, 
And vocal pines, still hears the shepherds' loves ; 
The rural warblings hear of skilful Pan, 
Who first to tune neglected reeds began. 

Bucol. viii. 22-24. — Warton's Translation. 

O that you lov'd the fields and shady grots, 
To dwell with me in bowers and lowly cots, 
To drive the kids to fold, the stags to pierce ; 
Then shouldst thou emulate Pan's skilful verse, 



* Philostrati Senioris Imag. 1. ii. c. 11. 

31 



242 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

Warbling with me in woods : 'twas mighty Pan 
To join with wax the various reeds began. 
Pan, the great god of all our subject plains, 
Protects and loves the cattle and the swains : 
Nor thou disdain thy tender rosy lip 
Deep to indent with such a master's pipe. 

Bucol. ii. 28-34. — Warton's Translation. 

Besides the four places in Arcadia, which are referred to in 
the above-cited passages of Virgil, Pausanias informs us of sev- 
eral others, in which he saw temples and altars erected to Pan. 
He says*, that Mount Meenalus was especially sacred to this 
deity, so that those who dwelt in its vicinity asserted, that 
they sometimes heard him playing on the syrinx. A con- 
tinual fire burnt there near his temple. 

Herodotus gives a very curious account of the introduction 
of the worship of Pan into Atticaf. He says, that before the 
battle of Marathon the Athenian generals sent Philippides as 
a herald to Sparta. " On his return Philippides asserted, that 
Pan had appeared to him near Mount Parthenius above Te- 
gea, had addressed him by name and with a loud voice, and. 
commanded him to ask the Athenians why they did not pay 
any regard to him, a god, who was kind to them, who had 
been often useful to them and would be so in future. The 
Athenians, believing the statement of Philippides, when they 
found themselves prosperous, erected a temple to Pan below 
the Acropolis, and continued to propitiate him by annual sacri- 
fices and by carrying the torch." From various authorities we 
know, that this temple was in the cave on the northern side of 
the Acropolis below the Propylseat 



* L. viii. c. 36. 5. and c. 37. 8. t Lib. vi. c. 105. 

t Eurip. Jon. 492-504. 937. Paus. i. 28. 4. Stuart's Ant. of Athens. Hob- 
house's Travels, p. 336. DodwelFs Tour, vol. i. p. 304. 

In Sir R. Worsley's collection of Antiques at Appledurcombe in the Isle of 
Wight is a bas-relief, in which Pan is reclining as if after the chase near the 
mouth of this cave. He holds the syrinx in the left hand, a drinking-horn in the 
right. A train of worshippers are conducting a ram to the altar within the cave. 
See Museum Worsleianum, Lon. 1794. plate 9. In the vestibule of the Univer- 
sity Library at Cambridge is a mutilated statue of Pan clothed in a goat-skin 
and holding the syrinx in his left hand. This statue was discovered near the 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 243 

In later times a cave near Marathon was dedicated to Pan, 
the stalactitio incrustations within it being compared to goats, 
and to their stalls and drinking- troughs*. 

Chandler and Dodwell in their Travels describe another 
cave larger than that at Marathon and containing more varied 
stalagmitic concretions. It is near the summit of Mount Rap- 
sana between Athens and Sunium. IIANOC is inscribed on 
the rock near the entrance, proving that it was considered 
sacred to Pan. It is no doubt the Panion mentioned by 
Strabot- 

The Corycian cave on Mount Parnassus was dedicated by 
the surrounding inhabitants to Pan and to the Nymphs J. 
Theocritus also (Idyll, viii. v. 103.) speaks of Homole, a moun- 
tainous tract in the south of Thessaly, as belonging to Pan. 
Altars were dedicated to Pan on the race-course at Olympia in 
Elis§, as we may presume, out of respect to the Arcadians, who 
resorted to the Olympic games. Pindar statesll, that he had 
near his door a statue of Pan. Here, as his able commentators 
Heyne and Bockh observe, his daughters with other Theban 
virgins sung hymns in honor of the god. 



same cave, and from its style, (the iEginetic,) may be supposed to have been 
carved soon after the battle of Marathon, See Dr. E. D. Clarke's Greek Mar- 
bles, p. 9. No. xi. Wilkins's Magna Graecia, p. 71, and Dodwell's Tour, vol. i. 
p. 304. 

* Paus. 1. i. 32. 6. Dodwell's Tour, vol. ii. p. 162. Mapat, p. 330 of Mem. on 
Eur. and As. Turkey, edited by Walpole. 

t L. ix. cap. 1. § 21. It was consecrated to the Nymphs as well as to Pan, 
this association of the Nymphs with that deity being universally practised. Dod- 
well's Tour, vol. i. p. 550-555. " The countryman and shepherd, as well as the 
sportsman, has often repaired, it is likely, to this cave, to render the deities pro- 
pitious by sacrificing a she-goat or lamb, by gifts of cakes or fruit, and by liba- 
tions of milk, oil, and honey ; simply believing, that this attention was pleasing 
to them, that they were present though unseen, and partook without diminishing 
the offering ; their appetites as well as passions, caprices, and employments resem- 
bling the human. At noon-day the pipe was silent on the mountains, lest it 
might happen to awake Pan, then reposing after the exercise of hunting, tired 
and peevish." Chandler's Travels in Greece, c. 32. p. 155.- 

t Paus. 1. x. 32. 5. Strabo, I. ix. cap. 3. § 1. p. 488. ed. Siebenkees Raikes's 
Journal in Memoirs edited by Walpole, p. 311 — 315. 

§ Paus. 1. v. c. 15. § 4. || Pyth. iii. 137-139. 



244 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

Time has spared the traces of hymns performed on such oc- 
casions, of which the following Scholion is the most entire spe- 
cimen. 

y Q, Uav, 'A.pKa8ias [lsSuv k\e£vvSs } 
op^riuTa ffpofiiais 6-rraSi vifi^ais, 
ycXarejaj, to Hav, In' Ijtais 
£v<ppo<rvvais, doiiats KC^nprifjievoi*. 

O Pan, Arcadia's sovereign lord, 
Dancing and singing with the nymphs ; 
Smile, Pan, responsive to my joys, 
O shout, delighted with my songs. 

On a vase of Greek marble in the Royal Museum at Naples 
(This vase was first described in Bayardi, Catalogo degliantichi 
monument! dissottarretti da Ercolano. Napoli, 1754, p. 290. 
No. 914.), we see Pan dancing with the nymphs exactly as he 
is represented in the preceding song. The sculpture is in that 
very ancient style, which is called Etruscan. Pan is here ex- 
hibited with goats' feet and horns (Horn. Hymn, in Pana, 1.2.). 
He wears the skin of an animal, and employs his right hand in 
drawing it up towards his left shoulder. In his left hand he 
holds the crook or pastoral staff, which is one of his usual em- 
blems. Pan and the three females, with whom he is dancing, 
form a distinct group by themselves. They are moving round 
a large stone, and the artist probably imagined them to be 
moving first in one direction, and then in the opposite, as if 
performing the Strophe and Antistrophe around an altar. We 
learn from Mr. Dodwell, that the modern Greeks in their circu- 
lar dances hold each other with a handkerchief, and not by the 
handt. 

That the Romans considered Pan and Faun to be the same, 
using the two names indiscriminately, the one as the Greek, 
the other as the Latin form, is evident from such passages as 
the following : 

Pan from Arcadia's hills descends 
To visit oft my Sabine seat, 



* AthenJBUS, 1. xv. 50. 1547. ed. Dindorf. Pindari Op. a Bockh. ii. 2. p. 592. 
Brunck, Analecta, vol. i. p. 156 ; and vol. iii. Lect. et. Emend, p. 27. 
t Dodwell's Tour, vol. ii. p. 21, 22. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 245 

And here my tender goats defends 
From rainy winds and summer's heat. 

For when the vales, wide-spreading round, 

The sloping hills, and polish'd rocks, 
With his harmonious pipe resound, 

In fearless safety graze my flocks. 

Hor. Od. 1. i. c. 17. v. 1-12. 

The names Pan and Faun, scarcely differ except in this, 
that the one begins with P, the lenis, and the other with F, 
which is its aspirate : in the second place, both were conceiv- 
ed to have not only the same form and appearance, but the 
same habits, dispositions, and employments : thirdly, the goat 
was sacrificed to Pan in Greece* and to Faunus in Italy t, be- 
cause the Arcadian and Roman deity was conceived to be the 
guardian of goats as well as sheep, but this animal was not 
sacrificed to the Egyptian Mendes, because 

In safety through the woody Drake 

The latent shrubs and thyme explore, 
Nor longer dread the speckled snake, 

And tremble at the wolf no more. 

Francis's Translation, abridged. 

in Egypt the goat itself was supposed to be Mendes, an incar- 
nation of the god ; and lastly, it is recorded as an historical fact, 
that the worship of Faunus was brought to Rome from Arcadia, 
whereas the supposition of the introduction of the same wor- 
ship into Arcadia from Egypt, though found in the pages of 
an historian, is not given by him as a matter of history, but 
only as a matter of opinion. The account of the origin of the 
worship of Faunus at Rome, is as follows : Evander, the Ar- 
cadian, introduced a colony of his countrymen into Italy, 
and established there the rights of Mercury and of the Ly- 
cean Pan on the hill, which was afterwards called the Pal- 
atine Mount and became part of the city of Rome. A cave 



* Longi Pastor. I. ii. c. 17. In an epigram by Leonidas of Tarentum (No. 
xxx. Brunckii Analecta, torn. i. p. 228.) Bito, an aged Arcadian, dedicates offer- 
ings to Pan, to Bacchus, and to the Nymphs. To Pan he devotes a kid. 

t Ovid. Fasti, ii. See also Hor. Od. 1. i. 4. v. ii. 



246 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

at the base of the hill was dedicated to Pan, as we have seen 
was the case some centuries afterwards at Athens*. 

In the preceding observations we have endeavored to give a 
correct representation of the real sentiments and practices of 
the Arcadians in regard to the proper divinity of their country ; 
and from this account we are naturally led to inquire what in- 
fluence this peculiar belief and worship had upon their manners 
and their social life. Whilst the elegant simplicity and inno- 
cence of the Arcadian shepherds, their graceful chorusses, their 
dance and song, their love for their fleecy charge, which they 
delighted and soothed with the melody of the pipe, have been 
the theme and ornament of poetry and romance from the ear- 
liest times, the question is highly important and interesting, 
whether these ideal visions are realised by historical testimony 1 
whether the shepherds of the ancient Arcadia were so entirely 
and so favorably distinguished from men of the same class and 
employment in almost all other times and countries ? One 
modern writer denies this fact. He says, " The refined and 
almost spiritualized state of innocence, which we call the pas- 
toral life of Arcadia, was entirely unknown to the ancients :" 
and he quotes in support of this assertion several expressions, 
used by Philostratus and other writers, and denoting contempt 
for the Arcadians as a rude, ignorant, stupid race of peoplef . 
Polybius, who was an Arcadian, confidently asserts, that they 
had throughout Greece a high and honorable reputation, not 
only on account of their hospitality to strangers and their benev- 
olence towards all men, but especially on account of their pie- 
ty towards the divine being ! It is true they make no figure 
in Grecian history, because they were too wise to take part in 
the irrational contests, which continually embroiled the sur- 
rounding states. Their division into small independent com- 
munities, each presenting a purely democratic constitution, 
rendered it impossible for them to acquire celebrity in legis- 

* Dionys. Halicarn. Hist. Rom. I. i. p. 20, 21, ed. R. Steph. Paris 1546. Strabon 
1. v. cap. iii. § 3. Aur. Victor, Origo Gentis Romans. Livii 1. i. c. 5. Pausanias, 
viii. 43. 2. Virg. Ma. viii. 51-54. 342-344. Heyne's Excursus ad loc. Ovidii 
Fasti, ii. 268-452. v. 88, &c. 

t J. H. Voss, Virgil's Landliche Gedichte, torn. ii. p. 353. 



PASTORAL LIFE OP THE ANCIENTS. 247 

lotion ; and yet we are informed of some of the citizens of Ar- 
cadia, who were reputed excellent lawgivers for the sphere in 
which they acted*. It appears to be no inconsiderable evidence 
of their progress in the art of government upon republican prin- 
ciples, that in the choice of magistrates at Mantinea they 
•proceeded upon the plan of a double election^. We have 
the most decisive proofs of their public spirit in the splendid 
cities, which they erected, and which were adorned with thea- 
tres, temples, and numerous other edifices. We are informed 
by Pausaniast, that of all the temples in Peloponnesus the most 
beautiful and admirable were those of Minerva at Tegea and 
of Apollo at Phigalia ; and these were both cities of Arcadia. 
Now it should be observed, that the taste and splendor of their 
public edifices are the more decisive proofs of their national en- 
thusiasm, when it is considered, that among them property 
was exceedingly subdivided ; that they had no overpower- 
ing aristocracy^ no princes or great landed gentry, who might 
seek for renown or court popularity by bestowing their wealth 
upon public institutions ; but that the noble temples, the sculp- 
tures, and other works of art, which ornamented their cities 
and were subservient to purposes of common interest, could 
have been produced only by the united deliberations and con- 
tributions of the mass of the inhabitants. They seem there- 
fore to prove the universal prevalence both of a liberal patri- 
otic feeling, and of a cultivated taste for the beautiful and the 
sublime. » 

Virgil bears his testimony to their superior skill in vocal and 
instrumental music. 

Arcadian swains, 
Ye best artificers of soothing strains. 

Bucol. x. 32. — WartorCs Translation. 

This must of course be understood as referring only to music 
and poetry of the pastoral kind. To the composition of the 
higher species of poetry, by which the Greeks of other coun- 
tries laid a foundation for the instruction and delight of all suc- 

* Wachsmuth, Hellen. Alterthumskunde, i. 1. p. 180 ; i. 2. p. 305. 

t Aristot. Polit. 1. vi. 2. 2. % L. viii. c. 41. 5. p. 429, ed. Siebel. 



248 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

ceeding ages, the Arcadians never aspired. At the same time 
there can be no doubt that they bestowed great care upon the 
exhibition of dramatic compositions, though they did not at- 
tempt to write them : of this fact we have sufficient proof in 
the remains of the theatres found upon the sites of their prin- 
cipal cities, and especially of the theatre of Megalopolis, which 
was the greatest in all Greece*. 

But with respect to their cultivation of music and its influ- 
ence on their national character, we have upon record the full 
and explicit testimony of one of their most distinguished cit- 
izens, the historian Polybius, whose remarks will appear espe- 
cially deserving of the reader's attention, when it is considered, 
that he must himself have gone through the whole course of 
discipline and instruction which he describes. Having had oc- 
casion to mention the turbulent character as well as the cruel 
and perfidious conduct of the Cynsetheans, who occupied a city 
and district in the north of Arcadia, he proposes to inquire why 
it was that, although they were indeed Arcadians, they had 
acted in a manner so entirely at variance with the usual habits 
and manners of the Greeks, and he then proceeds with earnest- 
ness and solemnity to explain upon the following principles the 
cause of this extraordinary contrast. It was, as he states, that 
the Cynaetheans were the only inhabitants of Arcadia who had 
neglected to exercise themselves in music ; and he then gives 
the following account of the established practice of the rest of 
the Arcadians in devoting themselves to the study of real 
music, by which he means the united arts of music, poetry, and 
dancing, of all those elegant and graceful performances, over 
which the Muses were supposed to preside. He informs us 
that the Arcadians, whose general habits were very severe, 
were required by law to go on improving themselves in music, 
so understood, until their thirtieth year. "In childhood," says 
he, " they are taught to sing in tune hymns and pseans in 
honor of the domestic heroes and divinities. They afterwards 
learn the music of Philoxenus and Timotheus. They dance to 
the pipe in the theatres at the annual festival of Bacchus ; and 

* Pausanias, 1. viii. 32. 1. Leake's Travels in the Morea,vol. ii. p. 32. 39, 40. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 249 

they do this with great emulation, the boys performing mock- 
fights adapted to their age, and the young men the so-called 
manly fights. In like manner throughout the whole of life 
their pleasure at feasts and entertainments consists, not in lis- 
tening to singers hired for the purpose, but in singing them- 
selves in their turns when called upon. For, although a man 
may decline any other performance on the ground of inability 
and may thereby bring no imputation on himself, no one can 
refuse to sing, because all have been obliged to learn it, and to 
refuse to take a part, when able, is deemed disgraceful. The 
young men also unite together to perform in order all the mil- 
itary steps and motions to the sound of the pipe, and at the 
public expense they exhibit them every year before their fellow- 
citizens. Besides these ballets, marches, and mock-fights, the 
men and women unite in great public assemblies and in nume- 
rous sacrifices, to which are to be added the circular or choral 
dances by the boys and virgins." Polybius adds, that these 
musical exercises had been ordained as the means of communi- 
cating softness and refinement to the otherwise rough and la- 
borious life of the Arcadians, and he warns them by the exam- 
ple of the half-savages of Cynaethre never to abandon such 
wholesome institutions*. With how great benefit to our own 
social character might we adopt this counsel ! How greatly 
might we contribute both to the innocent enjoyment and to the 
more improved and elevated tastes of our rustics and artisans, 
if well-regulated plans were devised, by which graceful recrea- 
tions, providing at the same time exercise for the body, amuse- 
ment for the imagination, and employment for the finer and 
more amiable feelings, were made to relieve the degrading and 
benumbing monotony of their protracted labors, whether in the 
factory or in the" field ! 

It will be readily perceived, that the education here described, 
and the tastes and habits which it produced, were immediately 
associated with the popular religion, and especially with the 
notions and rites entertained towards the peculiar god of the 
shepherds. Other deities indeed, such as Apollo, Diana, and 

* Polyb. L iv. c. 20, 21. 



250 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

Minerva, who were also worshipped in Arcadia, may have con- 
tributed to the same effect ; and especially this may have been 
the case with Mercury, perhaps the only one of the higher Greek 
divinities, who was conceived to have a benevolent character, 
who was the father of Pan, and was himself reported to have 
been born in a cave of the same mountain in Arcadia, on which 
he was worshipped. He was a lover of instrumental music, 
having invented the lyre, and he was frequently represented on 
coins and gems, riding upon a ram, or with his emblems so 
connected with the figures of sheep, and more rarely of goats 
and of dogs, as to prove that in his character as the god of gain 
the shepherds looked up to him together with his offspring to 
bless the flocks and to increase their produce*. Hence Homer, 
in order to convey the idea that Phorbas was remarkably suc- 
cessful in the breeding of sheep, says that he was beloved by 
Mercury above all the other Trojansf. The inhabitants of one 
territory even in Arcadia, viz. the city of Phineos, honored 
Mercury more than all the other gods, and expressed this sen- 
timent by procuring a statue of him made by a celebrated 

* Buonaroti (Osservazioni sopra alcuni Medaglioni Antichi, p. 41.) has exhibit- 
ed brass coins, in one of which Mercury is riding on a sheep ; in a second the 
sheep is seen with Mercury's bag of money on its back ; and in a third the ca- 
duceus is over the sheep, and two spikes of corn, emblems of agricultural pros- 
perity, spring out of the ground before it. Among the gems of the Baron de 
Stosch, now belonging to the Royal Cabinet at Berlin, No. 381. Class II. repre- 
sents Mercury sitting upon a rock with a dog by his side : Winckelmann ob- 
serves, that " the dog is the symbol of Mercury as the protector of shepherds." 
Nos. 392, 393, 396-402, in the same collection, represent him with sheep, and 
one of them (399.) exhibits him standing erect in a chariot drawn by four rams, 
and holding the bag or purse in his right hand and the caduceus in his left 

Some of the coins of Sicily appear to refer in like manner to the character of 
Mercury as the promoter of the trade in wool. 

The Honorable Keppel Craven (Excursions in the Abruzzi, London, 1838, vol. 
i. ch. 4. p. 109.) mentions a temple at Arpinum, a city of Latium, which was 
dedicated, as appears from an inscription found on its site, to MERCURIUS LA- 
NARIUS. This title evidently represented Mercury as presiding over the 
growth of wool and the trade in it. 

Perhaps the very ancient idea of Mercury making the fleece of Phryxus 
golden by his touch may have originated in the same view. See Apollonius 
Rhodius, Argonautica, 1. 11. 1144, and Scholion ad locum. 

t II. xiv. 490. See also Horn. Hymn to Mercury, 569. Hesiod, Theog. 444. 



PASTORAL LIFE OP THE ANCIENTS. 251 

sculptor in iEgina, in which he was represented carrying a ram 
under his arm, and which they placed in the great temple of 
Jupiter at Olympia*. At Corinth there was a brazen statue of 
Mercury in a sitting posture with a ram standing beside him. 
According to Pausanias (ii. 3, 4.) the reason of this representa- 
tion was, that of all the gods Mercury was thought most to 
take care of flocks and to promote their increase. But, as the 
Corinthians had little or nothing to do with the tending of 
sheep and were devoted to commerce, we may ask what inter- 
est had they in this attribute of Mercury? It is very evident 
that it could only be an interest arising from the part which Cor- 
inth took in the wool-trade. That the Arcadians did not 
themselves consume their wool is manifest. How could they 
have built cities, which were so large, numerous, and handsome 
in proportion to the extent of their country, and have lived 
even in that degree of elegance and luxury, to which they at- 
tained, unless they had been able to dispose of the chief prod- 
uce of their soil in a profitable manner ? It is probable 
therefore, that the representation of Mercury or of his emblems 
in conjunction with the figure of the sheep on the coins of Cor- 
inth and Patree may be regarded as an intimation, that the 
Arcadians disposed of their wool in those cities for exportation 
to foreign countries. 

But, notwithstanding the important share, which Mercury 
had in- the religious sentiments and observances of the Arca- 
dians, the proper god of the shepherds of Arcadia was Pan, and 
we have already had abundant evidence to suggest the convic- 
tion, that their songs and dances were performed principally in 
honor of him, and were supposed to be taught, guided, and 
animated by him. 

Arcadia has for many centuries exhibited a most melancholy 
contrast to that condition of hardy and yet peaceful independ- 
ence, of rustic simplicity united with tasteful elegance, of so- 
cial kindness and domestic enjoyment undisturbed by the proj- 
ects of ambition, which has supplied many of the most beauti- 
ful pictures to the writers of poetry and romance. The great 



* Paus. 1. v. 27. 5. and 1. viii. 14. 7. 



252 



SHEEP BREEDING AND 



natural features of the country are unalterable. The pine-for- 
ests of Lycaeus, its deep glens continually refreshed with spark- 
ling streams and cataracts, its savage precipices where scarce 
even a goat can climb, remain in their original beauty and 
grandeur. This region also affords pasture to flocks of sheep 
more numerous than those which feed in any other part of 
Greece*. But whatever depends on the moral nature of man 
is changed. The valleys, once richly cultivated and tenanted 
by an overflowing population, are scarcely kept in tillage. 
The noble cities are traced only by their scattered ruins. The 
few descendants of the ancient Arcades have crouched beneath 
a degrading tyranny. The thick forests and awful caverns 
but a few years ago served to shelter fierce banditti ; and the 
traveller startled at the sound of their fire-arms instead of being 
charmed with the sweet melody of the syrinxt. But a new 
dynasty has been established under the sanction of the most 
powerful and enlightened nations of Europe. It remains to be 
seen whether this or any other part of Greece will again be- 
come wise, virtuous, and renowned. The philanthropist, who 
amidst the gloom and desolation of the moral world depends 
with confidence upon an all-wise and all-disposing Providence, 
may console himself with the hope, that that great Being who 
bestowed such inestimable blessings upon Arcadian shepherds in 
their ignorance, will not abandon those of their descendants, 
who with superior means of knowledge, aim at corresponding 
attainments in the excellencies of political, social, and private life. 
According to the representation in the Odyssey (xiv. 100.) 



* Bartholdy, Bruchstiieke ziir Kenntniss des heut. Griechenlands, p. 238. 

t Dodwell's Tour, vol. ii. p. 388-393. Leake's Travels in the Morea, vol. i. p. 
486-490. The latter author gives the following account of a visit which he paid 
to the family of a shepherd, consisting of twelve or fifteen individuals, who lived 
together in a tent on Mount Lycreus : — " Milk and misithra (a preparation made 
by boiling milk and whey together) is their usual food. < We have milk in plen- 
ty,' they tell me, ' but no bread.' Such is the life of a modern Arcadian shep- 
herd, who has almost reverted to the balanephagous state of his primitive ances- 
tors (Orac. Pyth. ap. Pausan. Arcad. c. 42.). The children, however, all look 
healthy and are handsome, having large black eyes and regular features with 
very dark complexion." 



PASTORAL LIFE OP THE ANCIENTS. 253 

Ulysses had twelve flocks of sheep, and as many of goats on the 
continent opposite to Ithaca. At a much later period Neoptol- 
emus, a king of Molossis, in possession of flocks and herds, 
which were superintended by a distinct officer appointed for the 
purpose*. In Macedonia also the king, though living in a state 
of so little refinement that his queen baked the bread for the 
whole household, was possessed at an early period of flocks of 
sheep and goats together with horses and herds of oxen, 
which were entrusted to the care of separate officers. We are 
informed that three Argive brothers, having taken refuge in the 
upper part of Macedonia bordering upon Illyria, became hired 
servants to the king, one of them having the custody of the 
horses, another of the oxen, and a third of the sheep and 
goatsf . Here then we find in Europe a state of society analo- 
gous to that which, as we have seen, existed in Palestine 
under David. Indeed we may observe, that all the countries 
bordering on Macedonia were contrasted with Attica and Arca- 
dia in this respect, that, while the Athenians and Arcadians 
were in general small landed proprietors, each shepherd tending 
his flock upon his own ground, Phrygiaj, Thrace, Macedonia, 
Epirus, and even Boeotia belonged probably to an aristocracy, 
the richest and most powerful individuals of which became 
shepherd kings, their landed possessions giving them a superi- 
ority over the rest of their countrymen, and leading to the em- 
ployment of numerous persons as their servants engaged in 
tending their cattle and in other rural occupations. 

Respecting the attention paid to sheep-breeding in Epirus 
we have the testimony of Varro in his treatise De Re Rustica. 
He informs us (ii. 2.) that it was usual there to have one man 
to take care of 100 coarse-wooled sheep {oves hirtce), and two 
men for the same number of " oves pellitcB,'" or sheep which 
wore skins. The attention bestowed upon dogs is an indirect 
evidence of the care which was devoted to flocks. It is worthy 



* Plutarchi Pyrrhus, p. 705. ed. Steph. 
+ Herod, viii. 137. 

t Theopompus, as quoted by Servius on Virgil, Buc. vi. 13, makes mention of 
the shepherds, who kept the flocks of Midas, king of Phrygia. 



254 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

of remark, that the dogs used to guard the flocks in the modern 
Albania, appear to be the genuine descendants of the ancient 
" canes Molossici," being distinguished by their size as well as 
by their strength and ferocity*. Further notices respecting 
them may be found in Virgil's Georgics, 1. iii. 404-413, and in 
the Notes of his editors and translators, Heyne, Martyn, and 
J. H. Voss. See also iElian de Nat. An. iii. 2. and Plautus, 
Capt. 1. i. 18. 

There is another important circumstance, in which probably 
the habits of the modern shepherds of Albania are similar to 
those of the ancient occupants of the same region, viz. the an- 
nual practice of resorting to the high grounds in summer and 
returning to the plains in winter, which prevails both here and 
in most mountainous countries devoted to sheep-breeding. The 
following extract from Dr. Holland's Travels in the Ionian Isles, 
Albania, &c. (p. 91-93.), gives a lively representation of this 
proceeding : 

" When advanced eight or nine miles on our journey (from Cinque Pozzi to 
Joannina; October 31st, 1813,) and crossing another ridge of high and broken 
land, we were highly interested in a spectacle, which by a fortunate incident oc- 
curred to our notice. We met on the road a community of migrating shepherds, 
a wandering people of the mountains of Albania, who in the summer feed their 
flocks in these hilly regions, and in the winter spread them over the plains in the 
vicinity of the Gulph of Arta and along other parts of the coast. The many 
large flocks of sheep we had met the day before belonged to these people, and 
were preceding them to the plains. The cavalcade we now passed through was 
nearly two miles in length with few interruptions. The number of horses with 
the emigrants might exceed a thousand ; they were chiefly employed in carrying 
the moveable habitations and the various goods of the community, which were 
packed with remarkable neatness and uniformityt. The infants and smaller chil- 
dren were variously attached to the luggage, while the men, women, and elder 
children travelled for the most part on foot ; a healthy and masculine race of peo- 
ple, but strongly marked by the wild and uncouth exterior connected with their 
manner of life. The greater part of the men were clad in coarse white woollen 
garments ; the females in the same material, but more curiously colored, and 
generally with some ornamented lacing about the breast." He then adds, 
"These migratory tribes of shepherds generally come down from the moun- 
tains about the latter end of October, and return thither from the plains in April, 

* Holland's Travels, p. 443. Hughes's Travels, vol. i. p. 483, 484. 496. 
t No one has described this pastoral migration more minutely or more beauti- 
fully, than Mr. Charles Fellows, in his Discoveries in Lycia. 



PASTORAL LIFE OP THE ANCIENTS. 255 

after disposing of a certain proportion of their sheep and horses. In travelling, 
they pass the night on the plains or open lands. Arrived at the place of their 
destination, they construct their little huts or tents of the materials they cany 
with them, assisted by the stones, straw, or earth, which they find on the spot." 

According to Dr. Sibthorp (in Walpole's Memoirs, p. 141.), 
" a wandering tribe of Nomads" on the other side of Greece 
drive their flocks from the mountains of Thessaly into the 
plains of Attica and Bceotia to pass the winter. " They give 
some pecuniary consideration to the Pasha of Negropont and 
Vaivode of Athens. These people are much famed for their 
woollen manufactures, particularly the coats or cloaks worn by 
the Greek sailors." 



CHAPTER II. 

SHEEP-BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS 
—ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, &c. 

Sheep-breeding in Sicily — Bucolic poetry — Sheep-breeding in South Italy — An- 
nual migration of the flocks — The ram employed to aid the shepherd in con- 
ducting his flock — The ram an emblem of authority — Bells — Ancient inscription 
at Sepino — Use of music by ancient shepherds — Superior quality of Tarentine 
sheep — Testimony of Columella — Distinction of the coarse and soft kinds — 
Names given to sheep — Supposed effect of the water of rivers on wool — Sheep- 
breeding in South Italy, Tarentum, and Apulia — Brown and red wool — Sheep- 
breeding in North Italy — Wool of Parma, Modena, Mantua, and Padua — Ori- 
gin of sheep-breeding in Italy — Faunus the same with Pan — Ancient sculptures 
exhibiting Faunus — Bales of wool and the shepherd's dress — Costume, appear- 
ance, and manner of life of the ancient Italian shepherds. 

Still shall o'er all prevail the shepherd's stores, 
For numerous uses known ; none yield such warmth, 
Such beauteous hues receive, so long endure ; 
So pliant to the loom, so various, none. — Dyer. 

We now pass over to Sicily. The pastoral life of the Sicil- 
ians was marked by peculiar characters as well as that of the 
Arcadians. The bucolic poems of Theocritus represent many 
of its circumstances in the most lively colors ; and, while their 
dramatic spirit and vivacity are unrivalled, they seem to be 
most exact copies of nature, the dialogues which they contain 
being in the style, the language, and the precise dialect of the 
Sicilian shepherds, and indeed only differing from their real 
conversation by being composed in hexameters. It is to be 
observed, that the mountains and pastures of Sicily were 
browsed by goats and- oxen as well as by sheep. These ani- 
mals were, however, under distinct keepers, called respectively 
Shepherds, Goatherds, and Herdsmen. But the tastes, manner 
of life, and the superstitions of these three classes of rustics ap- 
pear to have been undistinguishable. They were probably not 
always independent proprietors of the soil, but in many cases 
the servants of a landed aristocracy who lived in Syracuse and 



PASTORAL LIFE OP THE ANCIENTS. 257 

other splendid cities. They appear, however, to have enjoyed 
far greater comforts and advantages than the corresponding 
class of hired laborers in the countries to the north of the Pelo- 
ponnesus and of Attica. In composing pastoral verses and in 
playing on the pipe and the syrinx they probably equalled the 
Arcadians. Whilst they were watching their flocks and herds, 
it was a frequent amusement with them for two persons to con- 
tend for a stipulated prize, such as a goat, a carved wooden 
bowl, or a syrinx, which was to be awarded by an appointed 
judge to him who most excelled either in instrumental music, 
or in singing alternate and extemporaneous verses*. 

That this elegant recreation was of Sicilian origin we have 
clear and abundant evidence. Bion {Idyll vii. 1.) calls pasto- 
ral poetry " a Sicilian strain f which certainly implies, that of 
all places where the Greek language was used Sicily was the 
most noted for it, and that in fact it properly belonged to Sicily. 
So Moschus (Idyll iii.) speaks of " the Sicilian muses ;" and 
throughout this Idyll, which is the lament of Moschus on the 
death of Bion, he repeatedly speaks of the pastoral poetry, such 
as Bion cultivated, as proper to Sicily. In Virgil's Bucolics we 
find frequent allusions to the same acknowledged fact. Thus 
he says, 



* According to the learned German traveller, Baron Riedesel, the custom was 
not extinct in his time ; for in his Travels through Sicily, page 148 of Forster's 
English translation, he says, " The shepherds still sing with emulation to gain the 
crook or the purse, which is the prize of the best performer." Nevertheless, the 
modern can be only a very faint imitation of the ancient practice ; for thus the 
same author speaks in other passages. 

" Here I had an opportunity of pitying the wretched situation of modern Sicily 
in comparison with what it was in former ages. Many towns and different na- 
tions are destroyed ; immense riches are dissipated ; the whole island can at pres- 
ent scarce show 1,200,000 inhabitants, the number which Syracuse alone for- 
merly had. Many beautiful spots, which used to produce corn and fruits, are now 
deserted for want of laborers ; many spacious ports are without any ships for want 
of trade ; and many people want bread, whilst the nobility and the monks are in 
possession of all the lands." p. 112, 113. 

" To conclude, the climate, the soil, and the fruits of the country are as perfect 
as ever. But the precious Greek liberty, population, power, magnificence, and 
good taste, are now not to be met with as in former times, and the present inhab- 
itants can only say, Fuimus Troes." p. 151 

33 



258 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

" I will set my verses to the tune of a Sicilian shepherd." 

Buc. x. 51. 

The historian Diodorus, himself a Sicilian, who lived about 
the commencement of the Christian sera, supposes bucolic poet- 
ry and music to be the peculiar invention and exercise of his 
own country, and says, that it continued in use at his time and 
was held in the same estimation as formerly*. In less than 
200 years from this period the art lost much of its original sim- 
plicity. Maximus Tyrius (Diss, xxi.) says, that "the Dori- 
ans of Sicily became, to use the mildest term, more weak in 
understanding? {more dissolute) " when instead of the simple 
Alpine music, which they used to employ in the presence of 
their flocks and herds, they began to love the tunes of the Syb- 
arites, and a style of dancing adapted to them, such as was re- 
quired by the Ionic pipe." 

But, although the rustic Dorians of Sicily had the full credit 
of this invention and were never surpassed in the practice of it 
by any other people, yet the imitation of it was attempted in 
various instances by the pastoral inhabitants of other countries. 
More especially, it appears to have been adopted in the neigh- 
boring district of Magna Graecia ; for it is near Sybaris that 
Theocritus has placed the scene of his Fifth Idyll, in which, a 
shepherd having staked a lamb and a goatherd a kid, they 
contend in alternate verses, whilst a wood-cutter, whom they 
have called from his labor, listens as judge, and awards the 
prize to the goatherd, who hereupon joyfully sacrifices his new- 
ly acquired lamb to the Nymphs. 

In the Seventh Idyll (v. 12, 27, 40.) Theocritus mentions 
the goatherd, Lycidas of Crete, who was his contemporary, 
and also his predecessors and supposed instructors, Asclepiades 
of Samos, and Philetas of Cos, as distinguished for skill in 
pastoral music. 

The bucolic poems of Theocritus prove, that the Arcadian 
belief in the attributes of Pan had extended itself into Sicily 
and the South of Italy, so that the rustics of those countries 
not only invoked him by name, but even sometimes offered 

* L. iv. c. 84, p. 283. 



PASTORAL LIFE OP THE ANCIENTS. 259 

sacrifices to him. Thus, in Idyll v. 58, the Lucanian goatherd 
already referred to says, that he will set aside for Pan eight 
dishes of milk and six of honey. 

But besides importing the belief in Pan from Arcadia the 
Sicilians recognized two demigods of native origin, who con- 
tributed, if not to excite feelings allied to religion, at least to 
amuse their imagination and to contribute greatly to the va- 
riety and liveliness of their poetry. These were the shepherd 
Polyphemus, who was horridly deformed, and the herdsman 
Daphnis, who was endowed with the most surpassing beauty. 

Polyphemus was the son of Neptune. Notwithstanding his 
forbidden aspect he is represented as susceptible of some tender 
emotions, and it is his misfortune to be deeply enamored of the 
beautiful Nereid or Mermaid Galatea, whom he sees sporting 
in the green waves, while he surveys the coast from the sum- 
mit of a mountain and plays upon the syrinx for the amuse- 
ment of himself and his flock*. 

The Sicilian Daphnis, like the Arcadian Pan, was the son 
of Mercury and of a mountain nymph, and excelled in playing 
on the syrinx ; but his form was entirely human and the most 
beautiful that could be imagined. 

The guardian of fair kine, himself more fair. 

Virg. Buc. v. 44. 

He tended his cattle upon the picturesque Heraean mountains 
to the north of iEtna, and did not mix in the society of men. 
At the time when the beard was beginning to grow on his up- 
per lip, the nymph Echenais became enamored of him, and 
enjoined him upon pain of losing his eye-sight not to approach 
any other female. He consented, and for some time persisted 
in obeying her ; but at length a Sicilian princess, having in- 
toxicated him with wine, accomplished her purpose. He shared 
the fate of Thamyras, the Thracian, and was thus punished 
for his folly t. He then pined away, and died of hopeless love 

* Theocritus, Idyll vi. and xi. Lucian, Dial. Doridis et Galatese. Ovid, Met. 
L. xiii. 739-870. 

t Timseus, author of the Hist, of Sicily, as quoted by Parthenius, c. 29. .flSlian, 
Var. Hist. L. x. c. 18. Diod. Sic. L. iv. c. 84. p. 283. 



260 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

for the nymph, whom he had offended*. According to Virgil 
(Buc v. 56-71.) he was raised to the stars, and sacrifices 
were offered to him by the shepherds. 

Daphnis was the frequent subject of pastoral poetry, being 
regarded as an ideal representation of the perfection of the 
shepherd's culture and manner of life. Of this we have a 
proof in the epigram of Callimachus on the death of Astacides, 
and which concludes thus : " We (shepherds) will no longer 
sing of Daphnis, but of Astacides." The poet's design was to 
extol Astacides, by comparing him with Daphnis. According 
to iElian (I. c.) the first bucolic poems related to the blindness 
of Daphnis and its cause ; and the first poet, who composed 
verses upon this subject, was Stesichorus of Himera in Sicily. 
In Theocritus the allusions to the beautiful story of Daphnis 
are very frequentf, and his sad fate is described at length by 
contending shepherds or goatherds in the First and Seventh 
Idylls. We shall quote only his dying words, where he calls 
on Pan to leave the great Meenalus and the long ridges of 
Lycaeus, and to come to Sicily in order to receive from his own 
hand the syrinx, on which he had been accustomed to play. 

"Tuvtf 2>va%, /cot ravSe <pep' evtto.ktoio pieX'nrvovv 
'E»c KTipoi avpiyya naXav, irepi ^siXoj tXiKT&V 
'H yap eyiiv in' iparog ej aSav eXko^cu iiSrj. 

Come, mighty king, come, Pan, and take my pipe, 
Well join'd with wax and fitted to my lip ; 
For now 'tis useless grown, Love stops my breath, 
I cannot pipe, but must be mute in death. 

Creech's Translation. 

Pliny informs us, that in his time the wool of Apulia was 
in the highest repute ; that throughout the South of Italy the 
best sheep were bred in the vicinity of Tarentum and Canu- 
sium ; and that the wool of Tarentum was admired for its 
tinge of black, and that of Canusium for its fine brown or yel- 
low color!. 



* Theocritus, Idyll i. 66-141. and vii. 72-77. 

t Idyll v. 20. See also v. 80. In Idyll vi. Daphnis is one of the performers, 
and gives a description of Galatea, 
t See Appendix A. 



PASTORAL LIFE OP THE ANCIENTS. 261 

The directions for the management of sheep, given by Var- 
ro, Columella, Yirgil, and other writers on rural affairs, all tend 
to show the pains taken by the Romans to improve the breed 
of sheep, and especially to produce wool of the finest quality. 

The first of these authors (De Re Rustica, L. ii. Praf.) 
mentions his own flocks of sheep in Apulia. It appears from 
his account that every man was obliged to report the number 
of his sheep to the publican and to have them inscribed in a 
register, the earliest allusion, to a code of laws, which may 
probably have been in some respects similar to that now called 
" La Mesta" in Spain. Varro further speaks expressly of the 
summer and winter migrations of the flocks ; and to show the 
great distances to which they were conducted on these occa- 
sions, he states that the sheep of Apulia were taken every 
year to pass the summer in the mountains of Samnium, and 
sometimes even in those of Reate*. 

Of the nature and circumstances of these annual migrations 
we are enabled to form some judgment, not only from the ani- 
mated description already quoted from Dr. Holland in relation 
to Albania, but still more distinctly from the following accounts 
by the Honorable Keppel Craven, one of which relates to the 
first group of mountains mentioned by Varro, the other to the 

second. 

In the year 1818 Mr. Craven visited a large farm a few 
miles to the south of Foggia, and consequently not far from the 
site of the ancient Arpi in Apulia. He mentions the follow- 
ing particulars. 

" Above 200 persons were employed, and resided on the spot. The stock of 
sheep consisted of 8000, divided into several flocks ; to which those of cows, goats, 
and buffaloes, together with a set of brood mares and a suitable quantity of poul- 
try, bore an equivalent proportion. All the cattle are guarded by large milk-white 
dogs of the Abruzzo breed. These animals are very handsome and resemble the 
Newfoundland species, but have sharper noses ; they are very intelligent and 
equally fierce. The flocks are tended by natives of Abruzzo, who also undertake 
the care of milking them, as well as making the cheese, &c. ; they are assisted 
by their wives and children, who accompany them in their yearly migrations to 
and from the mountains. These shepherds are clothed in the skins of the animals 



* De Re Rustica, L. ii. c. 1. p. 161. ed. Bip. See also, c. 2. p. 167. 



262 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

which they watch, and are reckoned a quiet, attentive, frugal, and trust-worthy 
race." Tour through the southern Provinces of the Kingdom of Naples, by the 
Honorable Keppel Craven, p. 80. 

The scene of the following extract is the valley of the 
Aternus, descending from the region of the highest Apennines, 
the " montes Reatini" of Varro, not very remote from the ruins 
of his farm and villa, (These ruins are described at page 45 of 
the volume from which this passage is extracted.), and proceed- 
ing towards the sites of the modern Aquila and of the ancient 
Amiternum. 

" One of the broad tratturos, or cattle-paths, runs in the same line with the 
high-road to Aquila ; and I was so fortunate as to see it occupied by a very ex- 
tended line of flocks, which slowly passed by the carriage for the space of a mile 
or more. The word ' fortunate ' adapted to such a spectacle, may excite a smile 
in my readers ; but I own that I never beheld one of these numerous animal con- 
gregations plodding across the flats of Capitanata, or the valleys of Abruzzo, as 
far as the eye could reach, without experiencing a sensation of a novel and exci- 
ting kind, nearly allied to that of enjoyment, but which I shall not attempt to 
account for. 

" One shepherd heads each division of cattle, of which he has the peculiar care 
and direction. Armed with his crook, he walks some paces in advance of Ms 
flock, followed by an old ram termed il manso ; which word, meaning tame or 
instructed, has undoubtedly a more apposite signification than that of our bell- 
wether, though he is, as well as ours, furnished with a large deep-toned bell. 

" The sheep march in files of about twelve in each ; and every battalion, if I 
may so call it, is attended by six or eight dogs, according to its number ; these 
accompanying the herd, walking at the head, middle, and rear of each flank. 
The beauty and docility of these animals, which are usually white, has often been 
described, and their demeanor is gentle as long as the objects of their solicitude 
are unmolested, but at night they are so savage, that it would be dangerous to 
approach the fold they guard. 

" The goats, which bear a very small proportion to the sheep, and are in gen- 
eral black, wind up the array, and evince their superior intelligence by lying down 
whenever a temporary halt takes place. The cows and mares travel in separate 
bodies. A certain number of these flocks, commonly those belonging to the same 
proprietor, are under the immediate management and inspection of an agent, en- 
titled fattore, who accompanies them on horseback, armed with a musket, and 
better clad than the shepherds, who, both in summer and winter, wear the large 
sheep-skin jacket, and are in other respects provided with substantial though 
homely attire, including good strong shoes. 

" These Fattores are all natives of Abruzzo, an Apulian never having been 
known to undertake the profession : the former, through particular habits and the 
repeated experience of years, are looked upon as so peculiarly fitted for the caro 
required by cattle, and indeed animals of all kinds, that all the helpers in the sta- 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 263 

bles of the capital are natives of these provinces, or of the adjoining county of 
Molise. In addition to these qualifications, they are esteemed an abstemious and 
honest race. 

" When following the calling of shepherds, and occupied, as I saw them, in the 
duties of their charge in travelling, their countenances are almost invariably 
marked by the same expression, which combines mildness and sagacity with im- 
movable gravity, and, it is painful to add, a look of deep-seated sadness ; the 
whole caravan, animal as well as human, exhibiting, at least while engaged in 
one of those tedious peregrinations, a general appearance of suffering and de- 
pression, distinguishable in every individual that composes it. The shepherd that 
opens the march, the independent manso jingling his brazen bell, the flocks that 
follow, the dogs that watch over their security, and even the Fattore who directs 
the procession, all appear to be plodding through a wearisome existence of monot- 
ony and toil. The extreme slowness of their progress, the downcast expression of 
every head and eye, and, above all, the indications of exhaustion and fatigue 
which are but too perceptible after a journey of more than a month's duration, 
may well account for this impression. 

" The animals suffer greatly from heat until they reach their summer dwelling, 
and full as much from lameness, which, when it has reached a certain pitch, be- 
comes the signal for destruction. I saw a mule bearing no other load than the 
skins of those that had perished in this manner. 

" Several other beasts of burden follow the rear of the herds, laden with the va- 
rious articles necessary for them and their guardians during their protracted 
march: these consist in the nets and poles requisite to pen the folds at night, the 
coarse cloth tents for the use of the shepherds, and a limited stock of utensils for 
milking, and boiling the produce of the flock. Among these are to be noticed 
some portable jointed seats of very ingenious though simple construction, com- 
posed of the stems of the giant fennel, a substance remarkable for its light and 
compact texture. 

" The cattle which I thus met near Aquila were within two days' journey of 
their resting-place, which is generally in some of the valleys placed on the lower 
flanks of the mountain ridges, but sufficiently elevated above the larger plains to 
afford fresh and abundant herbage and a cooler temperature. 

" The duration of their abode in these regions is regulated by the rapid or slow 
progression of the summer season ; in the course of which they shift their quar- 
ters, as the heat increases, till they reach the highest spots, which are the last di- 
vested of the deep snows, in which they have been buried during three quarters 
of the year. Here large tracts of the finest pasture, rills of the coldest and purest 
water, and shady woods of considerable extension, are occupied by them during 
the remainder of the fine weather, and afford the ne plus ultra of enjoyment al- 
lotted to an existence of such restricted variety." Excursions in the Abruzzi by 
the Honorable Keppel Craven. London, 1838, vol. i. p. 259-264. 

The account, given in the second paragraph of this extract, 
of the shepherd marching at the head of his battalion of sheep 
illustrates in a striking manner the remark made respecting 



264 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

the comparison of kings to shepherds, and to their leading rams 
in Homer and in the Scriptures. 

The Greek word KriXos, originally an adjective, corresponds 
exactly to the Italian manso. It appears to have been appli- 
cable to all trained tame animals. Hence it was used specially 
to denote the large and powerful ram, which was instructed to 
assist the shepherd in disposing the sheep in proper order and 
in leading them to and from their daily pasture as well as du- 
ring their long migrations. In the third book of the Iliad (I. 
196-198), where Priam is described surveying the Greek troops 
from the Scsean gate, after the account of Agamemnon, who 
was considered as their shepherd, we find Ulysses, who was 
inferior to him both in rank and in stature, represented as his 
manso, that is, as the ram, which immediately follows the shep- 
herd and aids him in conducting the flock. The same image 
is repeated in the thirteenth book (I. 492, 493), where Pope's 
translation, though very paraphrastic, is an admirable repre- 
sentation of the real circumstances. 

In order follow all th'. embodied train, 

Like Ida's flocks proceeding o'er the plain : 

Before his fleecy care, erect and bold, 

Stalks the proud ram, the father of the fold ; 

With joy the swain surveys them, as he leads 

To the cool fountains, through the well-known meads. 

Propertius presents us with a similar picture in the following 
lines ; 

Corniger Idaei vacuam pastoris in aulam 

Dux aries saturas ipse reduxit oves. Lib. iii. EL 13. 

The fold receives the sheep on Ida fed, 

By the great ram, their horned chieftain, led. 

Aristotle calls these rams " the leaders of the sheep," and he 
states, that the shepherds provided for each flock such a leader, 
which, when called by name by the shepherd, placed himself 
at the head of the flock, and was trained to execute this office 
from an early age*. The employment of the manso was prob- 
ably the ground, on which many of the Orientals adopted the 

* Hist. Animal, viii. 19. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 265 

ram as the emblem of military authority*. According to this 
supposition it would rather denote secondary than supreme 
command ; and if so, the representation of the king of Persia 
by the symbol of a ram in the 8th chapter of Daniel is the 
more expressive, because it indicated that he was the agent 
of the supreme Deity. Probably also the same sentiment was 
intended to be conveyed by the enthusiastic Sapor, or Shah- 
poor II., King of Persia in the fourth century, when he rode 
to battle in front of his army wearing instead of a diadem a 
ram's head wrought in gold and studded with precious stonest. 

Any one, who has seen the collection of ancient bronze bells 
in the Museum at Naples, and compared them with those now 
worn in Italy about the necks of sheep and other cattle, will be 
struck with their similarity. We know also from various an- 
cient laws and other evidence! that the shepherds fastened bells 
upon their sheep as they do at the present day. 

There is a striking correspondence between the words of 
Varro, " crates, retia, caeteraque utensilia," and Craven's ac- 
count of the provision of nets, &c. for making folds, and of the 
other necessary utensils. 

At Sepino, the ancient Saepinum, situated in the highest part 
of the mountains of Samnium near the source of the Tamarus, 
Mr. Craven saw over the Eastern gate the remains of a very 
remarkable inscription referring to the same practiced This 
inscription has been accurately published by Muratorill. It 
clearly distinguishes between the " fattores" [conductores gre- 
gum oviaricorum) and the shepherds who were under them 
(pastores quos conductores habent). These were molested 
by the magistrates of Saepinum and the neighboring town of 
Bovianum, and by the " stationarii" or soldiers, who, instead 
of being ready to protect them in case of need, charged them 
with being fugitives and with cattle-stealing, and under this 

* E. F. K. Rosenmuller, Bibl. Alterthumskunde, iv. 2. p. 83. 
t Ammianus Marcell. xix. 1. 

■t See note of Sweertius on the treatise of Hieron. Magius de Tintinnabulis, 
cap. viii. 

§ See Excursions in the Abruzzi, vol. ii. p. 135, 136. 
|| Novus Thesaurus Vet. Inscriptionum, p. dcvi. 

34 



266 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

pretence drove back even those sheep which belonged to the 
emperor [oves quoque dominicas) and thus greatly injured his 
revenue. These grievances were consequently represented to 
an officer at Rome who kept the emperor's accounts (Cosmus, 
Augnsti Liberties a Rationibus) ; and he writes in the terms 
of the inscription to Basseus Rufus and Macrinus Yindex, offi- 
cers of rank in the army, in order that the evil might be reme- 
died. This inscription must have been erected about the com- 
mencement of the Christian sera. As Mr. Craven remarks, 
" It not only corroborates what was already known, that the 
periodical migration of the herds from Apulia is of most ancient 
origin, but it proves, that they observed the same line of route 
which they follow to the present day ; the road, that runs from 
the east to the western gate of this inclosure, falling into the 
line of the tratturos, or sheep-paths, exclusively allotted to the 
use of the flocks in their annual journeys." 

Whilst we discover these numerous points of resemblance 
between the ancient and the modern practice, it is probable that 
in other respects there was a greater diversity. If the author 
whose observations have been cited had witnessed a similar pro- 
cession in very ancient times, he would have seen less reason to 
deplore its toilsome and melancholy aspect. Music was then 
probably of no little service in animating both the shepherds 
and their flocks. The sonorous bagpipe may have contribu- 
ted to this effect*. At least Mr. Craven's account of a modern 
pastoral march is strikingly contrasted with the following de- 
scription by Apollonius Rhodius, in which he compares the 
ship Argo and the music of Orpheus, followed by multitudes of 
fishes, to a shepherd playing on the syrinx and followed by his 
sheep. 

'i2j i' biror' dypavXoio xar' 'ix via oipavTrjpos 
fjLVpia jirjX' etyeirovTai aSrjv KCKoprifiiva 7roi.rj? 
sis av\tv, b is r uoi napos avpiyyi Aiyci'i/ 
KciXa peXtgojievos vojiiov piXo? £>s apa rui ys 
upapTtw' rrriv <5' aiiv liraauvrcpo; ffiiptv ovpo;. 

Argon, L. i. 575-579. 

* According to Montfaucon (Ant. Expliquee, Suppl. Tom. iii. p. 188.) the bag- 
pipe was seen under the arm of a shepherd in the collection of Cardinal Albani 
at Rome. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 267 

As sheep in flocks thick -pasturing on the plain 
Attend the footsteps of the shepherd-swain, 
His well-known call they hear, and fully fed, 
Pace slowly on, their leader at their head ; 
Who pipes melodious, as he moves along, 
On sprightly reeds his modulated song : 
Thus charm'd with tuneful sounds the scaly train 
Pursued the flying vessel o'er the main. 

Fawkes's Translation. 

The testimony afforded by Varro relative to the management 
of the South- Italian sheep, having been given and illustrated, 
it is to be deplored that Italy, once so renowned for its sheep, 
can now boast little of this production of her bounteous clime. 
The Romans, whose dress was woollen, cultivated in an espe- 
cial degree the fineness of the fleece ; and it was not until the 
days of the Empire that the silk and cotton of the East began 
to supersede the ancient raiment of the Roman people. The 
finest wools of ancient Italy were produced in Apulia and Cala- 
bria, being the eastern parts of the present kingdom of Naples*. 

We now proceed to the other writers on Rural Affairs, viz., 
Columella and Palladius. 

The first attests the high estimation in which the sheep of 
Calabria and Apulia were held by the Romans, especially be- 
fore his own time, and he says that among them the Tarentine 
sheep were the best of all. In speaking of the practice so prev- 
alent in this district of covering them with skins, he shows, 
that these " oves pellitse" were also called " soft" (molles), and 
" covered" (tectce). Indeed he makes the great distinction of 
sheep to be into the " genus molle" i. e. the soft kind, and the 
"genus hirsutum," or "hirtum," i. e. the coarse kind. We 
further learn that the soft sheep were called by the Romans 
Greek sheep, because they were bred in Grsecia Magna, and 



* It appears from the following passage of Varro, that the Apulian was sold at 
a higher price than some other kinds of wool which were equally beautiful, be- 
cause it wore better. By lana Gallicana in this passage we must understand 
the wool of Gallia Cisalpina, of which we shall next treat. 

Sic enim lana Gallicana et Appula videtur imperito similis propter speciem, 
cum peritus Appulam emat pluris, quod in usu firmior sit. 

De Lin. Lat., lib. ix. 28. p. 484. ed. Spengel. 



268 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

Tarentine, because the best of all were bred at Tarentum. 
According to Palladius they were also sometimes called Asiatic 
(Asiance). It is to be observed that by Asia, Palladius and 
his contemporaries would understand the celebrated sheep- 
country of which Miletus was the centre*; and considering the 
frequent, long-established, and very friendly intercourse be- 
tween Miletus and Tarentumt, we may infer that the Milesi- 
ans imported into Tarentum their fine breed of sheep, and at 
the same time introduced the art of dyeing and preparing the 
wool. The same sheep, which were called Greek by the Ro- 
mans, were called Italian by the Egyptians and others, to 
whom the word Greek would not have been distinctive. Col- 
umella (vii. 4.) insists particularly on the great pains and care, 
which it was necessary to bestow upon this description of sheep, 
the " covered" or " soft," in regard to food, warmth, and cleanli- 
ness, and he says that they were principally brought up in the 
house! . 

As there was in general a great affinity between the manners 
and ideas of Sicily and South Italy, we might infer that the 
pastoral habits of these two districts were in many respects 
similar. Theocritus accordingly lays the scene of some of his 
Idylls on the coast opposite to Sicily. The fifth Idyll describes 
a contest between a shepherd and a goatherd, who are sup- 
posed to have been employed as hired servants in the vicinity 
of Sybaris. The shepherd, observing some of his sheep to be 
feeding on an oak, which could not be very good for them, ut- 
ters the following exclamation, showing that it was customary 
to give proper names to sheep, and thus confirming the fact, 

* Cellarii Ant. Orbis Notitia, iii. 1. 7, 8, 9. 

t Herod, vi. 21. and Wesseling ad locum. 

X According to Bochart (Hieroz. cap. 45. p. 486, ed. Leusden), the Talmud and 
another rabbinical book, lambs soon after their birth were invested with garments 
fastened upon them with thongs or buckles. 

In the sheep-breeding countries of Europe the practice seems to have been 
very general. Besides South Italy, Attica, Megaris, and Epirus, in regard to 
which countries positive evidence has been produced, we find that soft sheep, or 
" oves pellitee" were kept by an inhabitant of Cynethae in Arcadia (Polybius, L. 
ix. c. 17.), by the Roman settlers in the North of Gaul and in Spain. 



PASTORAL LIFE OP THE ANCIENTS. 269 

that in ancient times they were regarded as the objects of affec- 
tion, and not of profitable speculation merely : 

Ovk and rds Spvos ovtos b Kdvapog, 2 re 'K.vvaiBa' 
TovtcI (SotrK7]aeia0e ttot avroXas, o>s 4 $aXapoy, 

Ho ! Sharphorn, Browning, leave those hurtful weeds, 
And come and graze this way, where Colly feeds. 

Creech's Translation. 

The passage has often been cited in illustration of the follow- 
ing verses from the Gospel of St. John. Our Savior, describing 
himself as a shepherd, here alludes to various indications of 
care and attachment, which distinguish the owner of a flock 
from the hireling, who, being engaged to tend the sheep only 
for a season, could not be so well known by them, nor so much 
interested in their security and welfare. 

" He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he 
putteth forth (from the fold) his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep 
follow him ; for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but 
will flee from him : for they know not the voice of strangers." — John, x. 3-5. 

In reference to this passage of Scripture the following remarks 
of a late traveller are instructive : 

" I asked my man if it was usual in Greece to give names to sheep. He in- 
formed me that it was, and that the sheep obeyed the shepherd when he called 
them by their names. This morning (March 5, 1828), I had an opportunity of 
verifying- the truth of this remark. Passing by a flock of sheep, I asked the 
shepherd the same question which I put to my servant, and he gave me the same 
answer. I then bade him to call one of his sheep. He did so, and it instantly 
left its pasturage and its companions, and ran up to the hand of the shepherd, 
with signs of pleasure and with a prompt obedience which I had never before ob- 
served in any other animal. It is also true of the sheep in this country, that a 
stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him; for they know not the 
voice of the strangers. The shepherd told me that many of his sheep are still 
wild ; that they had not yet learned their names ; but that by teaching they 
would all learn them. The others, which knew their names, he called tame." — 
Researches in Greece and the Levant, by the Rev. John Hartley, p. 321. 

The city of Sybaris stood between two rivers, the Sybaris 
and the Crathis. The ancients asserted that the sheep which 
drank of the Crathis, were white, and those which drank of the 



270 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

Sybaris, black. They attributed similar virtues to other 
streams in various parts of the world*. 

According to Strabo (L. vi. cap. 3. § 9. p. 303. ed Siebenkees) 
the hilly promontory of Garganus was particularly celebrated 
for its sheep. He says, that their wool was softer than the 
Tarentine, but less shining. 

The Roman poets allude in various instances to the excel- 
lence of the Apulian wool, and especially to that of Tarentum. 
Horace in the following stanza expresses his predeliction for this 
celebrated city, and mentions its " soft" or " covered" sheep. 
He had been asserting his wish to end his days at Tibur, the 
modern Tivoli. 

But, should the partial Fates refuse 

That purer air to let me breathe, 
Galesus, thy sweet stream I'll choose, 

Where flocks of richest fleeces bathe : 
Phalanthus there his rural sceptre sway'd, 
Uncertain offspring of a Spartan maid. 

Od. I. ii. 6. — Francis's Translation. 

Martial alludes to the celebrity of the Tarentine wool in no 
less than five of his epigrams. 

Spartan Galesus did your toga lave, 
Or from a flock select fair Parma gave. 

L. ii. ep. 43. I. 3, 4. 

The poet intended here to describe a toga of the most ex- 
pensive and fashionable kind. 

You give, O Chloe, to Lupercus, 
Your tender favorite, lacernas 
Of Spanish, Tyrian, scarlet fleeces, 
And togas wash'd in warm Galesus. 

L. iv. ep. 28. I. 1-3. 

Thou wast more sweet, O lovely child ! 

Than song of aged dying swans : 
Thy voice, thy mien were soft and mild 

As Phalantine Galesus' lambs. 

L. v. ep. 37. I. 1, 2. 

The last lines were written by Martial on the death of Ero 

* iElian, Nat. Anim. xii. 36. Plinii Hist. Nat. xxxi. 9. Kruse's Hellas, i. p. 
369. (See Appendix A.) 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 27L 

tion in her sixth year. He describes her interesting qualities 
by comparing her to a lamb of the soft Tarentine breed, always 
clothed and usually kept in the house and hence remarkably 
tender and delicate. 

The following epigram (L. viii. ep. 28.) was written on the 
receipt of a handsome toga from the wealthy and munificent 
Parthenius, chamberlain to the emperor Domitian. In express- 
ing his admiration of it, the poet enumerates the places from 
which the Romans of his time obtained the best and most 
fashionable garments of this description. He next proceeds to 
extol its whiteness ; and in conclusion observes how ridiculous 
he would appear wearing his old lacerna over this new and 
snowy garment, and he thus conveys a hint to Parthenius how 
acceptable and suitable would be the present of a lacerna in ad- 
dition to the toga. 

De Partheniana toga. 
Die, toga, facundi gratum mihi munns amici, 

Esse velis cujus fama, decusque gregis ? 
Appula Ledasi tibi floruit herba Phalanthi, 

Qua saturat Calabris culta Galesus aquis ? 
An Tartessiacus stabuli nutritor Iberi 

Bsetis in Hesperia te quoque lavit aqua ? 
An tua multifidum numeravit lana Timavum, 

Quem prius astrifero Cyllarus ore bibit ? 
Te nee Amyclseo decuit livere veneno ; 

Nee Miletus erat vellere digna tuo. 
Lilia tu vincis, nee adhuc dilapsa ligustra, 

Et Tiburtino monte quod albet ebur. 

Spartanus tibi cedet olor, Phaphiasque columbse : 

Cedet Erythrteis eruta gemma vadis. 
Sed licet hsec primis nivibus sint semnla dona, 

Non sunt Parthenio candidiora suo. 
Non ego prsetulerim Babylonica picta superbe 

Texta, Semiramia quae variantur acu. 
Non Athamantspo potius me mirer in auro, 

iEolium dones si mihi, Phryxe, decus. 
O quantos risus pariter spectata movebit 

Trita Palatina nostra lacerna toga ! 

Say, grateful gift of mine ingenious friend, 
What happy flock shall to thy fleece pretend ? 
For thee did herb of famed Phalantus blow, 
Where clear Galesus bids his waters flow ? 



272 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

Did thy wool count the streamlets, more than seven, 

Of him, who slaked the warrior horse of heaven? 

Or did Tartessian Guadalquiver lave 

Thy matchless woof in his Hesperian wave ? 

Thou didst not need to taste Amyclee's bane, 

And wouldst have tried Milesian art in vain. 

With thee the lily and the privet pale 

Compared, and Tibur's whitest ivory fail. 

The Spartan swan, the Paphian doves deplore 

Their hue, and pearls on Erythrean shore. 

But, though the boon leave new-fall'n snows behind, 

It is not purer than the donor's mind. 

I would prefer no Babylonian vest, 

Superbly broider'd at a queen's behest ; 

Nor better pleased should I my limbs behold, 

Phryxus, in webs of thine iEolian gold. 

But O ! what laughter will the contrast crown, 

My worn lacerna on th' imperial gown ! 

It may be observed, that in this ingenious epigram, as well 
as in two of the preceding, which relate to togas, Martial sup- 
poses the Tarentine wool to be white : for the Roman toga was 
of that color except in mourning, and one object of the last-cited 
epigram is to praise the whiteness of the particular toga, which it 
describes. The Tarentines therefore must have produced both 
dark-colored and white fleeces. 

The fifth passage of Martial (xii. 64.), which mentions the 
sheep of the Galesus, more directly refers to those of Spain, and 
will therefore be quoted under that head. 

Besides the epigrams, now cited, in which Martial commends 
the wool of Tarentum in particular, we find others, in whieh 
he celebrates that of Apulia in general. In Book xiv. Ep. 155. 
he gives an account of the principal countries, which yielded 
white wools, and informs us that those of the first quality were 
from Apulia. 

White Wools. 
The first Apulia's ; next is Parma's boast ; 
And the third fleece Altinum has engrost. 

Elphinston's Translation. 

Also in the following lines Martial alludes to the large and nu- 
merous flocks of Apulia, and to the whiteness of their wool. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 273 

Of white thou hast to clothe a tribe sufficient stock, 
The produce fair of more than one Apulian flock. 

L. ii. Ep, 46. I. 5, 6. 

On the other hand the wool from the vicinity of Canusium 
was no less esteemed for its dark colors, whether inclining to 
brown or to red. These saved the expense of dyeing. The 
testimony of Pliny to their value has been already produced. 
In the two following Epigrams (I. xiv. 127 and 129.) Martial 
alludes to the peculiar recommendations and uses, first of the 
brown, and secondly of the reddish variety. 

This Canusine lacerna, it is true, 
Looks muddy : but it will not change its hue*. 
Rome in the brown delights, gay Gaul in red : 
This pleases boys, and whose is blood to shed. 

On referring to the passages produced from Pliny, Columella, 
and Martial, it will be seen that the Romans ascribed a very 
high value to the white wool of Gallia Cisalpina, i. e. of North 
Italy, or the region about the Po. Parma was considered sec- 
ond only to Apulia for the whiteness of its wool. Besides the 
two epigrams of Martial already cited, he refers to Parma as a 
great place for sheep-breeding in the following passage, address- 
ed to the wealthy Callistratus ; 

And Gallic Parma shears thy num'rous flocks. 
L. v. ep. 13. 

Columella speaks moreover (I. c.) of the superiority of the 
wool of Mutina, now Modena; and Martial (I. v. ep. 105.) 
mentions the circumstance of a, fuller, or clothier, in that city 
having exhibited a show to the public, which is a presumptive 
evidence that he had a great business in manufacturing the 
produce of the surrounding country. 

Strabo in his account of the productions of Cisalpine Gaul 
divides the wool into three kinds ; First, the soft kind, of which 
the finest varieties were grown about Mutina and the river 



* It appears from this epigram that, when shaken, it had the color of the brown 
wool of Canusium, a kind of drab. The lacerna was a mantle, which the Ro- 
mans wore out of doors over their white toga, with which it was well contrasted, 
whether it was purple, scarlet, or brown ; but the last color, though less showy at 
first, must have had the advantage of durability. See Appendix A. 

35 



274 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

Scutana, which is the modern Scultenna, a tributary of the 
Po, rising in the Apennines ; Secondly, the coarse kind, grown 
in Liguria and the country of the Insubres, which was very 
much used for the common wearing apparel of the Italians ; 
and Thirdly, the middle kind, grown about Patavium (now 
Padua) and employed for making valuable carpets and various 
descriptions of blankets*. By comparing the statements of 
this author with those of Columella and Martial it will appear, 
that the whole region watered by the parallel rivers Parma, 
Gabellus, and Scultenna, and known by the name of Ma'cri 
Campi, or the Barren Plains, was esteemed for the production 
of the fine white wool. 

That the tending of both sheep and goats was a principal 
occupation of the people of Mantua we learn from Virgil, a 
native of that city, who places the scene of most of his pasto- 
rals in its vicinity. His First and Ninth Eclogues more particu- 
larly relate to the calamities, which the Mantuans were com- 
pelled to sustain, when Augustus seized on their lands to re- 
ward his veteran soldiers after the battle of Philippi. These 
eclogues mention flocks both of sheep and goats, and show that 
those who had the care of them cultivated music and poetry 
after the manner of the Sicilians. The commencement of the 
Seventh Eclogue is especially instructive, because it gives us 
reason to believe, that while many of the Arcadians left their 
country in consequence of that excess of population, to which 
mountainous regions are subject, in order to become foreign 
mercenaries, others, on the contrary, entered into foreign service 
as shepherds and goatherds, and in this condition not only 
made themselves useful by their experience, skill, and fidelity, 
but also introduced at the same time their native music to- 
gether with that refinement of manners and feelings which it 
promoted. The poet thus describes two such individuals, who 
had been employed in tending flocks upon the banks of the 
Mincius (I. 12, 13), and who were either born in Arcadia, or 
were at least of Arcadian origin. 

Two blooming swains had join'd their flocks in one, 
Thyrsis his sheep, and tuneful Corydon 

* Strabo, L. v. c. 1. § 12. p. 119. ed. Siebenkees. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 275 

His goats, which bore their treasur'd milk along ; 
Arcadians both, both skill'd in amoebean song. 

At a considerable distance to the North-East of Mantua lay 
Altinum, which is mentioned by Columella*, Tertullian, and 
Martial, as one of the principal places for the produce of white 
wool. Martial says, that it ranked in this respect next to Par- 
mat, and we must understand him as referring to the same 
region in Book viii. Epig. 28, where he asks, " Did thy wool 
count the many streams of the Timavus, which Cyllarus pre- 
viously drank with his starry mouth ?" The Timavus was 
indeed a considerable way still further towards the North-East, 
and must have been very insignificant in connection with the 
sheep-breeding of the Altinates. The poet introduces it here 
only on account of its picturesque and mythological interest, 
just as we have seen that the Galesus, a small, though clear and 
very beautiful stream, is repeatedly named in order to designate 
the pastoral region about Tarentum. It may also be observed, 
that in this epigram, where Martial alludes to three of the prin- 
cipal places for the growth of white wool, he indicates each of 
them by its river, the three rivers being the Galesus, the Beetis, 
and the Timavus ; and he probably did so on account of the sup- 
posed effect of the waters of these rivers in improving the wool. 

We can make no question, after what we have seen of the 
universal practice of both ancient and modern times, that the 
sheep, which in the winter were pastured in the plains and 
lower grounds about Altinum, were taken to pass the summer 
in the vallies of the Carinthian Alps about the sources of the 
Brenta, the Piave, and the Tagliamento. We may also trace 
the wool, after it was manufactured, in its progress towards 
Rome, where was the chief demand for garments of this de- 
scription. For Strabo says, that Patavium {Padua), which 
was situated at no great distance from Altinum on the way to 
Rome, was a great and flourishing mart for all kinds of mer- 
chandize intended to be sent thither, and especially for every 
kind of cloth J . It appears, therefore, that the wool-growers 

* L. vii. cap. 2. t L. xiv. Ep. 155. 

t L. v. cap. 1. § 6, 7. Strabo alludes to the pastoral occupations of the territory 
about Altinum and the Timavus. 



276 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

and clothiers of the country to the North-East of Padua, the 
modern Trevisano, employed that city as an entrepot where 
they disposed of their goods to the Roman dealers. At the 
same time we learn, that this place served as a market for car- 
pets and blankets made of a stronger and more substantial 
material, which, according to the same authority*, was produced 
in its more immediate vicinity. 

In the North- Western portion of Cisalpine Gaul the wool 
was generally coarse, and according to Strabo (I. c.) the gar- 
ments made of it were used by the Italians for the ordinary 
clothing of their domestic establishments. Nevertheless, black 
wool of superior value was grown at Polentia, now Polenza, on 
the Stura, which is a tributary of the Pot. The following two 
Epigrams of Martial (I. xiv. 157 and 158.) allude to the use of 
the dark wool of Polentia for mourning and for the dress of in- 
ferior domestic servants. 

Polentine Wools. 
1. Not wools alone, that wear the face of woe ; 

Her goblets once did proud Polentia show. 
2. Our sable hue to croplings may belong, 
That tend the table, not of primal throng. 

Elphinstori 's Translation. 

The country people about Modena and in other parts of the 
Northern Apennines still wear undyed woollen cloth of a gray 
color. Muratori quotes from the statutes of the city of Modena, 
A. D. 1327, a law to prevent the makers of such cloth from 
mixing with their gray wool the hair of oxen, asses, or other 
animalsl. 

Before quitting Italy we may properly inquire, whence and 
how came the practice of sheep-breeding into Great Britain. 
It has already been observed that the very improved state of 
the art at Tarentum may be in part ascribed to the intercourse 



* Strabo. 

t Pliny, L. viii. Columella, vii. 2. To these testimonies may be added Silius 
Italicus de Bello Punico, 1. viii. 597. 

X Dissertazioni sopra le Antichita Italiane, Diss. 30. tomo ii. 48, 49, 4to edition. 
This author in his 2lst Dissertation endeavors to assign reasons for the decline 
of the modern Italians in the growth and manufacture of wool. 



PASTORAL LIFE OP THE ANCIENTS. 277 

of its inhabitants with the Milesians. The reader will have 
noticed the fact that the worship of Pan was introduced into 
Italy from Arcadia by Evander, from which circumstance it 
may be reasonably inferred, that improvements in the manage- 
ment of sheep were also introduced at the same time. Accord- 
ing to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Evander with his compan- 
ions was said by the Romans to have migrated to Latium about 
sixty years before the Trojan war*. The same historian al- 
leges that this colony taught in Italy the use of letters, of in- 
strumental music and other arts, established laws, and brought 
some degree of refinement instead of the former savage mode 
of life. The story of the birth of Romulus and Remus sup- 
poses sheep-breeding to have been practiced at the period of that 
event, and in a state of society similar to that which we have 
found prevailing further eastward ; for it is stated, that Faus- 
tulus, who discovered them, kept the king's flocks. He was 
" magister regii pecorisf ." 

According to Pausanias (I. viii. c. 3. § 2.) the first Greek col- 
ony, which went into Italy, was from Arcadia, being conducted 
thither by (Enotrus, an Arcadian princet This was several 
centuries before the expedition under Evander, and the part of 
Italy thus colonized was the southern extremity, afterwards oc- 
cupied by the Bruttiii If with Niebuhr we regard this tradi- 
tion only in the light of a genealogical table, designed to indicate 
the affinities of tribes and nations, still the simple fact of the 
colonization of South Italy by Arcadians certainly authorizes 
the conjecture, that Arcadia was one of the stepping-stones, by 
which the art of sheep-breeding was transported from Asia into 
Europe. 

* Hist. Rom. 1. i. p. 20, 21. ed. R. Stephani, Par. 1546. folio. 

As it has been a frequent error with nations to push back their annals into a 
higher antiquity than was consistent with fact, this may have been the case in 
the present instance. For it is to be observed, that according to Herodotus the 
worship of Pan did not arise in Arcadia until after the time when according to 
this latter statement it was introduced from Arcadia into Latium. 

t Livii 1. i. c. 4. 

t As further evidence for this tradition see Pherecydis Fragmenta, a Sturtz, p. 
190. Virg. JEn. i. 53-2, and iii. 165. Compare Heyne, Excursus vi. ad 2En. 1. ill. 

§ Heyne, Excursus xxi. ad iEn. 1. i. Niebuhr, Rom. Geschichte, i. p. 57.- 



278 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

The reader will have perceived from the observations already 
made on the worship of Faunus in Italy, that the Roman Fau- 
nus was the same with the Arcadian Pan. It seems no suffi- 
cient objection to this hypothesis, that a few Roman authors 
have supposed Faunus to be either the son of Mars*, or of Picus 
and the grandson of Saturn, thus connecting him with their 
native mythology, or that his oracle was held by them in high 
reputet. It is here sufficient to remark, that we find him ex- 
tensively recognized in Italy as a pastoral divinity. 

Stretch'd on the springing grass, the shepherd swain 

His reedy pipe with rural music fills ; 
The god, who guards his flock, approves the strain, 

The god, who loves Arcadia's gloomy hills. 

Horat. Carm. iv. 12. 9-12. — Francis's Translation. 

The above stanza occurs in a description of the beauties of 
spring, and the poet no doubt alludes to the pastoral habits of 
his Sabine neighbors. 

From ancient monuments as well as from the language of 
the poets we find, that the worship of other divinities was asso- 
ciated with that of Faunus in reference to the success of all 
agricultural pursuits including that of sheep-breeding. Bois- 
sard, in the Fourth Part of his Antiquitates Romanae, has pub- 
lished somewhat rude engravings of the bas-reliefs upon two 
altars, one of them (No. 130) dedicated to Hope, the other (No. 
134) to Silvanus. The altar to Hope was erected, as the in- 
scription expresses, in a garden at Rome by M. Aur. Pacorus, 
keeper of the temple of Yenus. He says, that he had been ad- 
monished to this deed of piety by a dream ; and, if the repre- 
sentation in the bas-relief was the image thus presented to his 
mind, his dream was certainly a very pleasant one. Hope, 
wearing on her head a wreath of flowers, places her right hand 
upon a pillar and holds in her left poppy-heads and ears of corn. 
Beside her is a bee-hive on the ground, and on it there is also 
fixed a bunch of poppy-heads and ears of corn. Above these 
emblems of the fruitfulness of the field and of the garden is the 
figure of a bale of wool. 

* Appian apud Photium. 

t Virgil, iEn. vii. 48, 81-105, and Heyne, Eecursus v. ad loc. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 279 

The altar to Silvanus exhibits that divinity crowned with 
the cones and foliage of the pine. A pine grows moreover be- 
side his terminal statue, bearing the large cones, which were 
used for food at entertainments and carried in bacchanalian 
processions. Faunus, or Pan, sits at the foot of the pine, the 
syrinx and the double pipe being placed at his feet. In his 
right hand he holds an olive branch, while a young winged 
genius advances towards him as if to receive it, and another 
genius of the same kind appears to be caressing him and whis- 
pering into his ear. On the other side of the terminal statue 
of Silvanus we see the caduceus of Mercury and the bale of 
wool, manifest indications of success in the wool trade. In this 
sculpture the bale is surrounded with cords, which are twisted 
round one another where they cross. , In the former instance 
the compression of the wool appears to be effected by the use 
of thongs instead of cords*. There is also introduced the figure 
of a shepherd of the same country. This statue was found in 
the vicinity of Rome and is now preserved in the Vatican!. 
The extremities are in part restorations. A cameo in the Flor- 
entine MuseumJ represents the shepherd Faustulus sitting 
upon a rock, and contemplating the she-wolf, which is suckling 
Romulus and Remus. It is of the Augustan age, and no doubt 
exhibits the costume and general appearance of a Roman shep- 
herd of that period. He wears a tunica cucullaia, i. e. a tunic 
of coarse woollen cloth with a cowl, which was designed to be 
drawn occasionally over the head and to protect it from the in- 
juries of the weather. This garment has also sleeves, which 
Columella mentions {tunica manicata) as an additional com- 
fort. On his feet the shepherd wears high shoes, or boots, 
which, as we may suppose, were made of leather. 

The appearance of the shepherds, who are represented in 
these ancient works of art, is, doubtless, adapted to produce the 

* The bas-relief on the first altar is copied from Boissard by Montfaucon, Ant. 
Expliquee, tome i. p. 332. and that on the second, tome ii. p. 275. The latter is 
also represented by the Rev. Henry Moses, Collection of Antique Vases, &c. 
Plate 52. 

t Museo Pio-Clementino, tomo iii. tav. 34 and p. 44. 

t Museum Florentinum. Gemmae Antiquaa a Gorio illustratse, tav. ii. No. 10. 



280 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

impression, that their condition, even if it were that of slaves, 
was nevertheless one of comfort and respectability. Neither 
their garb, nor their attitude, suggests the idea of anything 
base or miserable. On the contrary, the countenance of each 
indicates trust-worthiness, steadiness, and care. That many 
of the agricultural laborers of ancient Italy had this character 
may be inferred also from written testimonies. 

In reference to this subject, and with a view to illustrate at 
the same time the habits and employments of the ancient 
farmer among the Sabine or Apidian mountains, we will here 
quote some parts of Horace's Second Epode, in which he de- 
scribes the pleasures of a country life. 

Like the first mortals blest is he, 
From debts, and usury, and bus'ness free, 
With his own team who ploughs the soil, 
Which grateful once confess'd his father's toil. 

The sounds of war nor break his sleep, 

Nor the rough storm, that harrows up the deep ; 

He shuns the courtier's haughty doors, 

And the loud science of the bar abjures. 

Either to poplars tall he joins 
The marriageable offspring of his vines ; 
Or lops the useless boughs away, 
Inserting happier as the old decay : 

Or in a lonely vale surveys 

His lowing herds, safe-wand'ring as they graze ; 

Or stores in jars his liquid gold 

Prest from the hive, or shears his tender fold. 

* * * * 

And, if a chaste and prudent wife 
Perform her part in the sweet cares of life, 
Of sun-burnt charms, but honest fame, 
Such as the Sabine or Apulian dame ; 

If, when fatigued he homeward turns, 

The sacred fire, built up with faggots, burns ; 

Or if in hurdles she inclose 

The joyful flock, whence ample produce flows ; 

Though unbought dainties she prepare, 
And this year's wines attend the homely fare ; 
No fish would I from foreign shore 
Desire, nor relish Lucrine oysters more. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 281 

Olives, fresh gather'd from the tree ; 
Mallows, the frame from heaviness to free *; 
A kid snatch'd from the wolf, a lamb 
To Terminus with due devotion slain ; 

Such is the meal, his labor o'er ; 

No bird from distant climes I'd relish more. 

Meanwhile how pleasant to behold 

His sheep well fed, and hasting to their fold ; 

To see his wearied oxen bow 

Their languid necks, and drag th' inverted plough ; 

And then his num'rous slaves to view 

Round his domestic gods their mirth pursue. 

* See chap. xii. p. 191. 

36 



CHAPTER III. 

SHEEP BREEDING AND PASTORAL LIFE OF THE AN- 
CIENTS—ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, &c. 

Sheep-breeding in Germany and Gaul — In Britain — Improved by the Belgians 
and Saxons — Sheep-breeding in Spain — Natural dyes of Spanish wool — Golden 
hue and other natural dyes of the wool of Bsetica — Native colors of Bsetic 
wool — Saga and chequered plaids — Sheep always bred principally for the 
weaver, not for the butcher — Sheep supplied milk for food, wool for clothing — 
The moth. 

According to Tacitus*, the ancient Germans had abundance 
of cattle, although we have no reason to suppose that they had 
acquired any of that skill in sheep-breeding, by which their 
successors in Silesia and Saxony are now distinguished. On 
the contrary, we are informed by the same author that the 
only woollen garment, which they commonly wore, was the 
Sagum, a term implying the coarseness of the materialf. 

We find almost as little in any ancient author in favor of the 
wool of Gallia Transalpina, the modern France. Pliny men- 
tions a coarse kind, more like hair than wool, which was pro- 
duced in the neighborhood of Pezenas in ProvenceJ. Martial's 
account of the Endromis Sequanica, coarse, but useful to keep 
off the cold and wet, bears upon the same point ; 

The frousy foster of a female hand ; 
Of name Laconian, from a barb'rous land ; 
Though rude, yet welcome to December's snow, 
To thee we bid the homely stranger go : 



That into glowing limbs no cold may glide, 
That baleful Iris never drench thy pride : 

* Terra pecorum fecunda, sed plerumque improcera. — Germania, v. 2. 

t Nudi, aut sagulo leves.— Germania, vi. 3. Tegumen omnibus sagum. xvii. 1 

X See Appendix A. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 283 

This fence shall bid thee scorn the winds and showers ; 
The Tyrian lawn pretends no equal powers. 

Elphinston's Translation. 

In the following epigram of Martial (vi. 11.), addressed to his 
friend Marcus, we observe a similar opposition between the fine 
and fashionable cloth of Tyre, and the thick coarse " sagum" 
produced in Gaul. 

Proud Tyrian thine, gross Gaulish mine array : 
In purple thee can e'er I love in gray ? 

Juvenal gives exactly the same account of the woollen man- 
ufactures of Gaul. In the following passage the needy depend- 
ant of a rich man is speaking of the lacernas from that coun- 
try, which were sometimes presented to him by his patron. 

Some coarse brown cloaks perhaps I chance to get, 
Of Gallic fabric, as a fence from wet. 

Satir. ix. v. 30. — Owen's Translation. 

To the same effect are several passages in the Epistles of 
Sidonius Apollinaris, who was Bishop of Clermont in Auvergne 
in the fifth century. He mentions, for example, that the at- 
tendants on Prince Sigismer at his marriage wore green Saga 
with red borders, and he describes a friend of his own as wear- 
ing the Endromis*. Also in an account of his own villa he 
speaks of the pipe with seven holes, as the instrument of the 
shepherds and herdsmen, who used to entertain themselves du- 
ring the night with musical contests, while their cattle were 
grazing with bells upon their necks. 

All these passages are confirmed and illustrated by the testi- 
mony of Strabo. According to him Gaul produced cattle of all 
kindsf. The Belgse, who occupied the most northern part, op- 
posite to Britain, excelled ihe rest of the Gauls in their manu- 
factures. Nevertheless their wool was coarse, and was spun 
and woven by them into the thick Saga, which were both worn 
by the natives of the country and exported in great quantities 
to Rome and other parts of Italy. The Roman settlers, indeed, 

* Viridantia saga limbis marginata puniceis. L. iv. Ep. 20. Tu endromida- 
tus exterius. L. iv. Ep. 2. 

t L. iv. cap. i. § 2. p. 6. ed. Siebenkees. 



284 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

in the most northern parts had flocks of covered sheep, and their 
wool was consequently very fine*. 

Here also may be produced the evidence of Eumenius, who in 
his Oration, which will be quoted more fully hereafter, intimates 
the abundance of the sheep on the western banks of the Rhine 
by saying, that the flocks of the Romans were washed in every 
part of the streanrf. 

Caesar informs us, that the ancient inhabitants of Britain had 
abundance of cattle [jiecoris magnus Humerus) ; under the 
word (pecus) " cattle," sheep must no doubt be understood to 
be included. It also appears, that in his time the Celts, or 
proper Britons, lived to the North of the Thames, the Belgians 
having expelled them and taken possession of the part to the 
South, called Cantium or Kent. These last were by far the 
most civilized inhabitants of the island, not much differing in 
their customs from the Gauls. With respect to the others, 
Ceesar says, that for the most part they did not sow any kind 
of grain, but lived upon milk and flesh, and clothed themselves 
with skins*. 

It appears therefore, that before our eera, sheep, and probably 
goats, were bred extensively in England, their milk and flesh 
being used for food, and their skins with the wool or hair upon 
them for clothing ; and that the people of Kent, who were of 
Belgic origin, and more refined than the original Britons, had 
attained to the arts of spinning and weaving, although their 
productions were only of the coarsest description. 

Eumenius, the Rhetorician, who was a native of Augustodu- 
num, now called Autun, delivered his Panegyric in praise of 
the Emperors Constantius and Constantine in the city of 
Treves about A. D. 310. In the following passage he con- 
gratulates Britain on its various productions, and also on the 

* L. iv. cap. iv. § 3. pp. 56-59. ed. Siebenkees. 

t Arat illam terribilem aliquando ripam inermis agricola, et toto nostri greges 
flumine bicomi mersantur. p. 152. 

X Ex his omnibus longe sunt humanissimi, qui Cantium incolunt ; quse regio 
est maritima omnis ; neque multum a Gallica differunt consuetudine. Interiores 
plerique frumenta non serunt ; sed lacte et came vivunt, pellibusqe sunt vestiti. 
De Bello Gallico, 1. v. cap. 10. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 285 

circumstance, that Constantine had been recently declared Em- 
peror at York on the death of his father : 

O fortunate Britain, now the happiest country upon earth ; for thou hast been 
the first to see Constantine made Emperor. It was fit that on thee Nature should 
bestow every blessing of climate and of soil. Suffering neither from the excessive 
severity of winter, nor the heat of summer, thy harvests are so fruitful as to sup- 
ply all the gifts both of Ceres and of Bacchus ; thy woods contain no savage 
beasts, thy land no noxious serpents, but an innumerable multitude of tame cattle, 
distended with milk, and loaded with fleeces*. 

The improvements in sheep-breeding which were first intro- 
duced into England by the Belgians, appear to have been ad- 
vanced still further by the Saxons. 

The only country, which now remains to be surveyed in re- 
lation to the production of sheep's wool, is Spain ; and, as this 
kingdom retains its pre-eminence at the present dayf, so we 
find none, in which sheep-breeding was carried to a greater ex- 
tent in ancient times. 

Of all the countries in Europe, says Mr. Low, Spain has 
been the longest distinguished for the excellence of its wool. 
This fine country, more varied in its surface and natural pro- 
ductions than any other region of the like extent in Europe, 
produces a great variety of breeds of sheep, from the larger ani- 
mals of the richer plains, to the smaller races of the higher moun- 
tains and arid country. Besides the difference produced in the 
sheep of Spain by varieties of climate and natural productions ; 
the diversity of character in the animals may be supposed to 
have been increased by the different races introduced into it : — 
first, from Asia, by the early Phoenician colonies ; secondly 
from Africa by the Carthaginians, during their brief possession < 
thirdly, from Italy by the Romans, during their dominion of 
six hundred years ; and fourthly, again from Africa, by the 
Moors, who maintained a footing in the country for nearly eight 
centuries. The large sheep of the plains have long wool, ofteu 

* Panegyrici Veteres, ed. Cellarii, Hate Magd. 1703. pp. 147, 148. 

t For accounts of the state of sheep-breeding in modern Spain, including the 
annual migration of the flocks, which is conducted there as in Italy, the reader 
is referred to " Travels through Portugal and Spain in 1772, 1773, by R. Twiss,'* 
pp. 72-82; and to De la Borde's View of Spain, vol. iv. pp. 45-61, English 
Translation. London, 1809. 



286 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

colored brown or black. The sheep of the mountains, downs, 
and arid plains have short wool, of different degrees of fineness, 
and different colors. The most important of these latter breeds 
is the merino, now the most esteemed and widely diffused of all 
the fine-wooled breeds of Europe. 

Pliny not only refers in general terms to the various natural 
colors of the Spanish wool, but mentions more particularly the 
red wool produced in the district adjoining the river Bsetis, or 
Guadalquiver*. 

Among the natural colors of the Bsetic wool, Columella, a 
native of Cadiz, (vii. 2.) mentions, as has been already stated, 
gray and brown. The latter is what we call drab, and the 
Spaniards fusco. It is now commonly worn by the shepherds 
and peasants of Spain, the wool being made into clothes with- 
out dyeing. 

Nonius Marcellus {cap. 16. n. 13), explaining the word j>ul- 
lus, which was called a native color, because it was the natural 
color of the fleece, also shows, that this was a common quality 
of the Spanish wool. Another testimony is that of Tertullian. 

The sheep of Tarentum were imported into this part of 
Spain, and there also their fleeces were protected by clothing. 
Columella (L. vii. 2.) gives a very interesting account of the 
experiments made by his uncle, a great agriculturalist of Bsetica, 
in crossing his Tarentine breed with some wild rams of an ex- 
traordinary color, which had been brought from Africa to Cadiz. 
(See latter part of next chapter.) 

We have a further evidence of the pains taken to improve 
the Spanish breed in the circumstance, that Italian shepherds 
passed into Spain, just as we have formerly seen, that they mi- 
grated into Italy from Arcadia. In the following lines of Cal- 
purnius (Eel. iv. 37-49.), Corydon, a young shepherd, tells his 
friend and patron, Meliboeus, that he should have been trans- 
ported into Beetica, had not the times improved, and his mas- 
ter's favor enabled him to remain in Italy. 

Through thee I rest secure beneath the shade. 
Such plenty hath thy generous bounty made, 

* See Appendix A. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 287 

But for thy favor, Melibceus, sent 

Where Bsetis' waves the western plains indent, 

Plains at the earth's extremest verge, expos'd 

To the fierce Moors, which Geryon once inclos'd. 

There had I now been doom'd to tend for hire 

Iberian flocks, or else of want expire : 

In vain I might have tun'd my seven-fold reed : 

Mid thickets vast no soul my strains would heed : 

Not even Pan on that far-distant shore 

Would lend his vacant ear, or be my solace more. 

Juvenal in his Twelfth Satire (I. 37-42.) describes a mer- 
chant overtaken by a dreadful storm, and to save the ship 
throwing his most valuable goods into the sea. It will be ob- 
served, that the poet attributes the excellence and fine natural 
color of the woollen cloth of Beetica to three causes, the rich 
herbage, the occult properties of the water, and those of the air. 

" Over with mine," he cries ; " be nothing spar'd ;" 
To part with all his richest goods prepar'd ; 
His vests of Tyrian purple, fit to please 
The softest of the silken sons of ease, 
And other robes, which took a native stain 
From air and water on the BEetic plain. 

Owen's Translation. 

Strabo (iii. 144. p. 385. ed. Sieb.) gives the following account 
of the wool of Turdetania. 

IIoAXij Si leal IcBrii irpdrcpov rjpx ST0 ' vvv Si Kal I'pta fiaXXov twv Kvpafcv, Kai i-rrcpfioXfi 
TH fori tov KaWovf raXavriaiov; yovv iivovvrai rov; Kpiov; el; ra; 6%c.ias, mzpfioXr] Si koli 
r&jj/ Xcttiuv v^ao^aruv, airep ol EnArtrjrat KaraaKeva^ovcriv. 

" Much cloth used formerly to come from this country. Now also fleeces come 
from it more than from the Coraxi ; and they are exceedingly beautiful, so that 
rams for breeding are sold for a talent each. Also the fine webs are very famous, 
which are made by the Saltiatse." — Yates's Translation. 

The reader will please to remark, that this is the passage of 
Strabo, formerly referred to as containing evidence respecting 
the Coraxi. 

Martial, a Spaniard by birth, frequently alludes to the sheep 
of Baetica and especially to the various natural colors of their 
wool, which were so much admired, that it was manufactured 
without dyeing. Two of his epigrams (iv. 28. and viii. 28.) 



288 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

have been already quoted, as they refer also to the sheep of 
Tarentum : to these the seven following may be added. 

la the Tartessian lands a house appears, 
Where Cordova o'er placid Bsetis rears 
Her wealthy domes ; and where the fleeces show 
Metallic tints, like living gold that glow. 

ix. 62. 
Corduba, more joyous far 

Than Venafrum's unctuous boast ; 
Nor inferior to the jar, 

That renowns glad Istria's coast : 
Who surmount'st the fleecy breed, 
That the bright Galesus laves ; 
Nor bidd'st lying purple bleed 
O'er the hue, that nature craves. 

xii. 63. — Elphinston's Translation. 
Beetis, with wreaths of unctuous olive crown'd, 
For Bacchus' and for Pallas' gifts renown'd ; 
Whose waters clear a golden hue impart 
To fleeces, that require no further art ; 
Such wealth the Ruler of the waves conveys 
In ships, that mark with foam thy liquid ways. 

xii. 99. 

Lacernas from Baetica. 
My wool disdains a lye, or caldron hue. 
Poor Tyre may take it : me my sheep imbue. 

xiv. 133. — Elphinston's Translation 

Charming Ero's golden lock 
Beat the fleece of Bsetic flock. 

v. 37. See § 21.— lb. 
Bsetic fleeces, many a pound. 

xii. 65. 1. 5. 
Let him commend the sober native hues ; 
Of Bsetic drab, or gray, lacernas choose, 
Who thinks no man in scarlet should appear, 
And only women pink or purple wear. 

i. 97. 

The numerous passages, which have now been produced 
relative to the native colors of the Spanish wool, explain the 
following line of Virgil, in which he describes the clothing of a 
warrior ; 

With broider'd chlamys bright, and Spanish rust. 

jEn. ix 582 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 289 

The poet probably intended to describe an outer garment, a 
chlamys, made of undyed Spanish wool of a clear brown or 
yellowish color, resembling' that of rust ; and afterwards en- 
riched with embroidery. 

Ramirez de Prado, the Spanish commentator on Martial 
(Ato. Paris, 1607.), says, that two native colors were common 
in Spain in his time, the one a golden yellow, the other more 
brown or ferruginous. 

In the North of Spain the Celtiberi wore saga made of a 
coarse wool like goats'-hair (Diod. iSic. v. 33. tom.A.j). 356. 
Wesseling-.), and woven double according to Appian*. 

At Salacia in Lusitania, according to Pliny, a chequered pat- 
tern was employed in the manufacture of the coarse wool. This 
was in all probability the same as the shepherd's plaid of the 
Scotch, the weaver taking advantage of the natural difference 
of the white and black wool to produce this variety of appear- 
ance. (See Appendix A.) 

Estremadura, a part of the ancient Beetica, is still famous for 
its wool. There the Spanish flocks hybernate, and under the 
direction of a peculiar code of laws, called La Mesta, are con- 
ducted every spring to pasture in the mountains of Leon and 
Asturias. Other flocks are led in the same season from great 
distances to the heights of the Sierra Morena, lying to the east 
of the ancient Beetica, where the vegetation is remarkably fa- 
vorable to the improvement of their wool. 

As bearing directly upon the present inquiry it may be ob- 
served, that sheep have always been bred principally for the 
weaver, not for the butcher, and that this has been more espe- 
cially the case in ancient times and in eastern countries. 

If we may judge from the following epigram of Martial, the 
Romans regarded with feelings little short of aversion the act 
of killing a sheep for food except on solemn or extraordinary 
occasions. 

The Ram's head. 
Hast pierc'd the neck of the Phryxean lord, 
Who oft had shelter'd thine? O deed abhorr'd ! 

xii. 211. — Elphinston's Translation. 

* Appiani Hist. Rom. 1. vi. de Rebus Hispan., vol. i. p. 151. ed. Schweighauser. 

37 



290 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

The customs of the shepherd tribes in the East are in this 
respect remarkably like those of the ancients. 

" The Arabs rarely diminish their flocks by using them for 
food, but live chiefly upon bread, dates, milk, butter, or what 
they receive in exchange for their wool. They however sell 
their sheep to the people in the towns. A lamb or kid roasted 
whole is a favorite dish at Aleppo, but seldom eaten except by 
the rich*." When the Arabs have a sheep-shearing, they per- 
haps kill a lamb, and treat their relations and friends with it 
together with new cheese and milk, but nothing more. Among 
the Mohammedans sheep are sacrificed on certain days as a 
festive and at the same time a religious ceremony ; these cere- 
monies are of great antiquity and derived from Arab heathen- 
ism. On the pilgrimage to Mecca every one is required to sac- 
rifice a sheep at a certain place near Meccaf. 

By the Law of Moses the sheep was a clean animal, and 
might consequently be eaten or sacrificed. A lamb or kid, 
roasted whole, was the principal and characteristic dish at the 
feast of the passover. The rich man kills a lamb to entertain 
his guest in the beautiful parable of Nathan. (2 Sam. xii. 4.) 
Sheep were killed on the festive occasion of shearing the very 
numerous flocks of Nabal. (1 Sam. xxv. 2. 11. 18.) An ox 
and six choice sheep were sacrificed daily for the numerous 
guests of Nehemiah, while he was building the wall of Jeru- 
salem. (Neh. v. 17, 18.) Immense numbers of sheep and oxen 
were sacrificed at the dedication of Solomon's temple. (1 Kings, 
viii. 5. 63.) The prophet Ezekiel (xxxiv. 3.) describes the bad 
shepherd as selfishly eating the flesh and clothing himself with 
the wool of the sheep, without tending them with due care and 
labor. 

In the Suovetaurilia among the Romans a hog, a sheep, and 
a bull, their principal domestic animals, were sacrificed. A 
sheep was killed every day for the guards, who watched the 
tomb of Cyrus. (Arrian, vol. i. p. 438, Blancardi.) In the 

* Harmer's Observations, vol. i. p. 393. ed. Clarke, 
t Harmer, p. 39. 

Pallas (Spicilegia Zoologica, Fasc. xi. p. 79.) speaks of the beautiful lamb-skins 
from Bucharia, as being admired for their curled gray wool. 



PASTORAL LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS. 291 

Odyssey (p. 180-182.) a sacrifice is made and a feast prepared 
of sheep, goats, hogs, and a cow. Also in Od. v. 3. 250. sheep 
are sacrificed and furnish part of a feast. In order to ratify a 
treaty between the Greeks and Trojans, the former sacrificed a 
lamb of the male sex to Jupiter ; the latter one of the male 
sex and white to the Sun, and another of the female sex and 
black to the Earth. (II. y . 103, 104.) Sheep are sacrificed to 
Apollo at Delphi in Euripides, Ion, I. 230. 380. The rare in- 
stances of the use of sheep for food or sacrifice by the Egyptians 
have been already noticed. 

But, although sheep, both old and young, male and female, 
were sacrificed to the objects of religious worship and on other 
festive occasions were eaten, especially by the rich and great, 
yet their chief use was to supply clothing, and the nourishment 
they yielded consisted in their milk and the cheese made from 
it, rather than in their flesh. 

This fact is illustrated by the words of Solomon, formerly 
quoted, and in which he speaks of lambs for clothing and 
goat's milk for food. In like manner St. Paul says (1 Cor. ix. 
7.), "Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit 
thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of 
the flock ?" 

Varro thinks, that sheep were employed for the use of man be- 
fore any other animal on account of their usefulness and placid- 
ity, and he represents their use to consist in supplying cheese and 
milk for food, fleeces and skins for clothing*. In like manner 
Columella in his account of the use of sheep (vii. 2.) says, they af- 
forded the chief materials for clothing. In treating of their use 
for food, he mentions only their milk and cheese. Pliny refers 
to the employment of sheep both for sacrifices and for clothing. 
He also remarks, that as the ox is principally useful in obtain- 
ing food, to wit, by ploughing and other agricultural processes, 
the sheep, on the other hand, supplies materials for clothingt. 

The fact, that wool was among the ancients by far the most 
common material for making clothes, accounts for the various 



* De Re Rustica, 1. ii. cap. i. t See Appendix A. 



292 SHEEP BREEDING AND 

expressions in scripture respecting the destructiveness of the 
moth. 

" Your garments are moth-eaten." James v. 2. i: He, as a 
rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth-eaten." — 
Job xiii. 28. " They all shall wax old as a garment, the moth 
shall eat them up." — Is. 1. 9. " The moth shall eat them up 
like a garment, and the worms shall eat them like wool." Is. 
li. 8. " From garments cometh a moth." Eccles. xlii. 13. 
" Treasures, where moth and rust corrupt." Matt. vi. 19. 

But it is to be observed, that the sacred writers mention not 
the moth, but the minute worm, which changes into a moth, 
and which alone gnaws the garments. In the passages which 
have been quoted, the word " moth" must be understood to sig- 
nify the larva* of the clothes-moth (Phalcena Vestianella, 
Linn.), or of some insect of the same kind. 

* When an insect first issues from the egg, it is called by naturalists larva. 



CHAPTER IV. 

GOATS-HAIR. 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIP- 
TURES, ETC. 

Sheep-breeding and Goats in China — Probable origin of sheep and goats — Sheep 
and goats coeval with man, and always propagated together — Habits of Gre- 
cian goat-herds — He-goat employed to lead the flock — Cameo representing a 
goat-herd — Goats chiefly valued for their milk — Use of goats'-hair for coarse 
clothing — Shearing of goats in Phrygia, Cilicia, &c. — Vestes caprina, cloth of 
goats'-hair — Use of goats'-hair for military and naval purposes — Curtains to 
cover tents — Etymology of Sack and Shag — Symbolical uses of sack-cloth — 
The Arabs weave goats'-hair — Modern uses of goats'-hair and goats' -wool — 
Introduction of the Angora or Cashmere goat into France — Success of the 
project. 

The inquiry into the origin and propagation of the Goat, no 
less than that of the sheep, may justly be considered a subject 
for interesting investigation. Goats were no less highly prized 
by the ancient inhabitants of Greece and Italy than by the 
modern. We have seen, that the great value of sheep always 
consisted in its fleece. The goat, on the contrary, was more 
valued for the excellence and abundance of its milk, and for its 
suitableness to higher and more rugged and unproductive land*. 

We observe a clear allusion to this distinction between the 
principal uses of sheep and of goats in the twenty-seventh 
chapter of the book of Proverbst. The management and use 



* Virgil, Georg. iii. 305-321. 

t " Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. 
The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of thy field ; and thou 
shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and for 
the maintenance of thy maidens." Prov. xxvii. 23, 26, 27. 

Bochart has quoted a great variety of ancient testimonies to the value of goats' - 
milk in his Hierozoicon, 1. ii. cap. 51. pp. 629, 630. ed. Leusden. 



294 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 

of goats has from time immemorial formed a striking feature in 
the condition of man, and especially of those nations which be- 
long to the Caucasian, or, as Dr. Prichard more properly de- 
nominates it, the Iranian or Indo- Atlantic variety of our race*. 
Their habits of sheep-breeding seem no less characteristic than 
the form of their countenances, a no less essential part of their 
manner of life than any other custom, by which they are dis- 
tinguished: and, as all the circumstances, which throw any 
light upon the question, conspire to render it probable, that the 
above-mentioned variety of the human race first inhabited part 
of the high land of central Asia, so it is remarkable, that our 
domestic sheep and goats may with the greatest probability be 
referred to the same stock with certain wild animals, which 
now overspread those regions. The sheep, as has been already 
observed in chapter I., is regarded as specifically the same with 

* See Prichard's Researches into the Physical History of Mankind, third edi- 
tion, vol. i. pp. 247. 257-262. 303, 304. These nations are characterized by the 
oval form of the skull. Their distribution over the face of the earth may be seen 
in the Map, Plate VII. 

The only remarkable exception to this limitation of ancient sheep-breeding, is 
the case of the Chinese. It would appear from the following evidence, that they 
had both sheep and goats in ancient times. 

The Chinese character for a sacrifice is a compound of two characters, one 
placed above the other ; the upper one, Yang, is the character for a lamb, the 
lower is the character for fire ; so that a lamb on the fire denotes a sacrifice. See 
Morison's Chinese Dictionary, vol. iii. part i. 

According to the mythology of the Chinese, which as well as their written 
characters is of high antiquity, one of the four rivers, which rise in Mount Kaen- 
lun and run towards the four quarters of the globe, is called the Yang-Choui, i. e. 
the Lamb-River. Thomas Stephens Davies, Esq. in Dr. Robert Thomson's Brit- 
ish Annual for 1837, p. 271. 277. 

Yang-Ching, i. e. Sheep-city, was an ancient name of Canton. Morison, p. 
55. There is a character for the Goat, which means the Yang of the mountains, 
Yang being a general term like the Hebrew fXS, including both sheep and 
goats. lb. p. 61, 62. 

In the following passage of Rufus Festus Avienus, who flourished about A. D. 
400, we have a distinct testimony, that the ancient Seres, the probable ancestors 
of the Chinese, employed themselves in the care of sheep at the same time that 
they were devoted to the production of silk. 

Gregibus permixti oviumque boumque, 
Vellera per silvas Seres nemoralia carpunt. 

Descriptio Orbis Terra?, 1. 935, 936 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 



295 



the Argali ; and in the opinion of Pallas, which has been very 
generally adopted by zoologists, the. goat is the same with the 
iEgagrus, a gregarious quadruped, which occupies the loftiest 
parts of the mountains extending from the Caucasus to the 
South of the Caspian Sea, and thence to the North of India*. 
Indeed the history of these animals is so interwoven with the 
history of man, that those naturalists have not reasoned quite 
correctly, who have thought it necessary to refer the first origin 
of either of them to any wild stock at all. They assume, that 
these quadrupeds first existed in an undomesticated state, that 
is, entirely apart from man and independent of him ; that, as 
he advanced in civilization, as his wants multiplied, and he be- 
came more ingenious and active in inventing methods of sup- 
plying them, the thought struck him, that he might obtain 
from these wild beasts the materials of his food and clothing ; 
and that he therefore caught and confined some of them and 
in the course of time rendered them by cultivation more and 
more suitable to his purposes. 

We have no reason to assume, that man and the two lesser 
kinds of horned cattle were originally independent of one an- 
other. So far as geology supplies any evidence, it is in favor 
of the supposition, that these quadrupeds and man belong to 
the same epoch. No properly fossil bones either of the sheep or 
goat have yet been found, and we have no reason to believe, 
that these animals were produced until the creation of man. 
But, as we must suppose, that man was created perfect and 
full-grown, and with those means of subsistence around him, 
which his nature and constitution require, there is no reason 
why the sheep and the goat may not have been created in such 
a state as to be adapted immediately both for clothing and for 
food, or why it should be considered more probable that they 
were at first entirely wild. They may have been produced 
originally in the same abode, which was occupied by that va- 
riety of the human race, to whose habits and mode of life the 
use of them has always been so essential ; and, if we assume, 



* Pallas, Spicilegia Zoologica, Fasciculus xi. pp. 43, 44. See also Bell's His- 
tory of British Quadrupeds, London, 1837, p. 433. 



296 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 

that this abode was somewhere in the elevated land of central 
Asia, in the region, for example, of Armenia, we adopt an hy- 
pothesis, which explains in the most simple and satisfactory 
manner the apparent fact of the propagation not only of men, 
but of these quadrupeds with them, from that centre over im- 
mense regions of the globe. 

With regard to historical evidence, it is certainly very defec- 
tive. No express testimony assures us of the facts included in 
the above-named hypothesis. One thing, however, is certain, 
and it appears very deserving of attention, viz. that the sheep 
and the goat have always been propagated together. We find 
great nations, which had no acquaintance with either of these 
quadrupeds, but depended for their subsistence upon either 
oxen or horses. We find others, on the contrary, to whose 
mode of life the larger quadrupeds were of much less impor- 
tance than the smaller ; but we find none, which were accus- 
tomed to breed sheep without goats, or goats without sheep. 

The reader will find numerous illustrations of this fact on 
reviewing the evidence contained in the preceding chapters. 
General terms were employed in the ancient world to include 
both sheep and goats*. Where more specific terms are used, 
we still find " rams and goats," " ewes and she-goats" mentioned 
together. Sheep and goats were offered together in sacrifice, 
and the instances are too numerous to mention, in which the 
same flock, or the wealth of a single individual, included both 
these animals. 

In consequence of this prevailing association of sheep and 
goats, they are often represented together in ancient bas-reliefs 
and other works of art. Of this we have a beautiful example 
in the Rev. Robert Walpole's collection of " Travels in various 
countries of the East." At the end of the volume is a plate 
taken from a votive tablet of Pentelic marble dedicated to Pan, 
and representing five goats, two sheep, and a lamb. As the 
goats are in one group, and the sheep and lamb in another, the 
artist probably designed to represent a flock of each. For. 



* It should be observed, that the Hebrew word translated sheep in Ex. ix. 3. 
included Goats. 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 297 

though sometimes mixed in the same flock, the two kinds of 
animals were generally kept apart; and to this circumstance 
our Savior alludes in his image of the shepherd dividing the 
sheep from the goats*. 

A sheep and a goat are seen reposing together in a Roman 
bas-relief in the Monumenta Matthseiana, vol. iii. tab. 37. fig. 1. 

Rosselini gives two paintings from Egyptian tombs, which ex- 
hibit both sheep and goatst ; and he mentions an inscription on 
the tomb of Ranni, according to which that person had 120 
goats, 300 rams, 1500 hogs, and 122 oxen. 

In the account given in chapter II. of the Sicilian Daphnis, an 
epigram by Callimachus on Astacides, who was a goatherd in 
Crete, was partially quoted, probably remarkable for his beauty 
and his immature death. The translation of the passage will 
now be given. 

'A.TTaKiSr]v roe Kprjra, tov aiiroKov, "ip-nauc ~Nijji(pri 

'E£ opco;' Kal vvv lepo; 'A<n-aKi<5>jj 
OiVsi AiKTtxiricnv viro fipvaiv' ovk£ti Aaipviv 
Tloipsves, Aardicilriv <5' ailv dtitjoynda. 
A nymph has snatch'd Astacides away ; 

Beneath Dictsan oaks our goatherd lies : 
Shepherds ! no more your songs to Daphnis pay ; 
For now with him the sacred Cretan vies. 

Yates's Translation. 

Theocritus [Idyll, vii. 12-20.) describes a goatherd of Cydon 
in Crete, named Lycidas ; and from the account which he 
gives of his attire, we may judge of that commonly used in 
ancient Greece by the same description of persons. He wore 
on his shoulders the dun-colored hide of a shaggy goat, and an 
old shawl was fastened about his breast with a broad girdle. 
In his right hand he held a crook of wild olive. 

The same author [Idyll, iii. 5.) mentions a fine strong 

* " When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with 
him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory : and before him shall be gath- 
ered all nations : and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd 
divides his sheep from the goats : and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, 
but the goats on the left." — Matt. xxv. 31-33. 

t Monumenti dell' Egitto, parte ii. Mon. Civili, tomo i. cap. iii. § 2. tavola xxviii. 
xxix. 

38 



298 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 

he-goat, which was brought from Lybia to Sicily. The de- 
sign of its transportation was, no doubt, to improve the breed. 
Probably Chromis, the Lybian [Idyll i. 24.), who resided in 
Sicily, had migrated there to undertake the management of 
goats and to improve their quality. 

Maximus Tyrius (Diss, xxvii.) seems to suppose, that a 
flock of goats could not even exist without the music of the 
syrinx. " If you take away," says he, " the goatherd and his 
syrinx, you dissolve the flock of goats ; in like manner, if you 
take away reason from the society of men, thus depriving them 
of their leader and guide, you destroy the flock, which by na- 
ture is tame, but may be injured by a bad superintendence." 

The he-goat was employed to lead the flock as the ram was 
among sheep. The following passages of scripture allude to 
this custom. " Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go 
forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats 
before the flocks." Jer. 1. 8. " Mine anger was kindled against 
the shepherds, and 1 punished the goats." Zech. x. 3. In 
Proverbs xxx. 31., according to the Septuagint version, we read 
of " the goat which leads the flock." Julius Pollux (Lib. i. cap. 
12. sect. 19.) says, that " The he-goat leads the goats*." 

On a cameo in the Florentine Museum there is a represen- 
tation of an ancient goatherdf . The goatherd holds the syrinx 
in his left hand, and a young kid in his right. A goat stands 
beside him, and his dog appears partially concealed within a 
kennel formed in the rock, upon which the goatherd is seated. 
The herdsman is represented sitting under an aged ilex. At 
least this supposition accords with the language of Tibullus al- 
ready quoted. 

A modern authoress, who spent some of the summer months 
in the year 1819 among the mountains east of Rome, notices 
goats in the following terms as part of the stock of the farmers 
in that country. 

"We frequently walked to one of these little farms, to meet 
the goats coming in at night from the mountain. As the 

* See also JElian, Hist. Anim. vi. 42. and Pausanias, ix. 13. 4. 

t Mus. Florentinum. Gemmse antiques a Gorio illustrate, tab. xc. No. 7. 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 299 

flock crowded down the broken road leading to the fold, follow- 
ed by their grotesque-looking shepherd and his rough dogs, the 
pet-kids crowding round their master and answering to his 
call, we could not help thinking of the antique manners de- 
scribed by the poets, and represented in the pictures of Hercu- 
laneum and Pompeii. 

" The goats are the most useful domestic animals. Here no 
other cheese or milk is tasted. Besides, the ricotta, a kind of 
curd, and junkets, are made of goats'-milk, and, with bread 
serve many of the country people for food*." 

From Athenseust we learn the superior excellence of the goats 
of Scyros and Naxos. 

Virgil (/. c), after mentioning the use of goats for food, goes 
on to show their contributions to the weaver. 

Cloth'd in their shaven beards and hoary hair, 
Fence of the ocean spray and nightly air, 
The miserable seaman breasts the main, 
And camps uninjur'd press the marshy plain. 

Sotheby's Translation. 

The last line of this passage of Virgil is quoted by Columella 
(L. vii. 6.) in speaking of the utility of the he-goat ; 

For he himself is shorn " for the use of camps and to make coverings for 
wretched sailors." 

Virgil, moreover, has here followed Varro, who writes thus ; 

As the sheep yields to man wool for clothing, so the goat furnishes hair for the 
use of sailors, and to make ropes for military engines, and vessels for artificers. 
***** The goats are shorn in a great part of Phrygia, because there 
they have long shaggy hair. Cilicia (i. e. hair-cloths), and other things of the 
same kind, are commonly imported from that country. The name Cilicia is 

* Three Months passed in the Mountains east of Rome, by Maria Graham 
(Lady Calcott), p. 36. 55, 56. 

The same writer says, that " black sheep are rather encouraged here for the 
wool," and that " the clothing of the friars is of this undyed wool." p. 55. 

t Quoted in Chapter I. p. 236. iElian bears testimony to the same fact, observ- 
ing, that the cows of Epirus were said to yield the greatest quantity of milk, and 
the goats of Scyros. Hist. Anim. 1. iii. cap. 33. 

From Tournefort, Sonnini, and other modern travellers we learn, that both 
Scyros and Naxos are very rocky and mountainous, and that they still produce 
goats. See also Dapper, Description des Isles de l'Archipel, p. 256. 350. 



300 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 

said to be derived from the circumstance, that in Cilicia goats were first shorn 
for this purpose. De Re Rustica, L. ii. c. ii. p. 201. ed. Bip. 

The language of Varro in this passage indicates, that the fe- 
male goat was shorn as well as the male ; and that the excel- 
lence of goats'-hair, which was used only for coarse articles, 
consisted in its length. Columella mentions the long bristly 
hair of the Cilician goats*. 

Aristotle says, " In Lycia goats are shorn, as sheep are in 
other countries." Hist. Anim. viii. 28. This testimony of 
Aristotle agrees with that of his nephew and pupil, Callisthenes, 
who says (ap. JElian. de Nat. Anim. xvi. 30.), " that in Lycia 
goats are shorn just as sheep are everywhere else ; for that they 
have a very thick coat of excellent hair, hanging from them in 
locks or curls ; and that this hair is twisted so as to make ropes, 
which are used in navigation instead of cables." 

Pliny, in his account of goatst, says, " In Cilicia and about 
the Syrtes they are covered with hair, which admits of being 
shorn." From this it may be inferred, in conformity with the 
testimonies already cited from Varro and Virgil, that the long- 
est and best goats'-hair was obtained in Cilicia, and on the coast 
of Africa opposite to Sicily and Malta, the modern Tripoli. It 
is remarkable, that Virgil, in order to designate the latter dis- 
trict, refers to the romantic river Cinyps, which flowed through 
it, observing the same practice, which we have seen to be so 
common with the poets in regard to the countries noted for the 
produce of the most excellent wool. In the interior and more 
hilly portion of this district of Africa both sheep and goats are 
still reared}:. 

The geographer Avienus asserts that goats'-hair was obtain- 
ed for the purpose of being woven in the country of the Cynetse 
in Spain§. Isidore of Seville, in his enumeration of the differ- 
ent kinds of cloth (Orig. xix. 22.), uses the following expres- 

* Setosum, quale est in Cilicia. De Re Rustica, 1. i. Prtef. p. 20 ed. Bip. 

t L. viii. c. 76. See Appendix A. 

X Proceedings of the Expedition to explore the Northern Coast of Africa from 
Tripoli Eastward, by Beechey, ch. iv. p. 73. In the same chapter, p. 52. 62-68, 
is an account of the Wad' el Khahan, the ancient Cinyps. 

§. Rufi Festi Avieni Ora Maritima, 1. 218-221. 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 301 

sions : « Fibrini (vestis est) tramam de fibri Ian a habens : ca- 
prina." Thus the text now stands, evidently defective. The 
writer no doubt alluded to a kind of cloth called caprina, be- 
cause goats'-hair was used in the manufacture of it. Beckmann 
(History of Inventions, Eng. Trans., vol. iv. p. 224.) proposes 
to read, " tramam de fibri lana habens, stamen de caprina," i. e. 
" having the woof of beaver-wool, the warp of goats'-wool." But 
the ancients were unacquainted with the fine wool of certain 
goats, and it is highly improbable, that they used goats'-hair 
in the case referred to, since the " Vestes Fibrinee" were of great 
value, as will soon be shown, and not made in any part of coarse 
materials. 

The cloth of goats'-hair would be suitable for sailors, both on 
account of their hardy mode of life, and because it was better 
adapted than any other kind to bear exposure to water. 

Its use as clothing to express mourning and mortification 
will be noticed presently. 

The employment of goats'-hair for military and naval pur- 
poses was far more extensive, and is proved by the following 
passage from the Geoponica (xviii. 9.) in addition to the former 
testimonies. 

TlpotroSovs SiScooiv ovk dXtyaf, ras and yaXaKTo; koX rvpov xai (aapKos)' irpos <5e tovtoi; 
rag and Trig rpi^og. fi Si 0pi| avayxaix npag re ay^oivovg Kal caKKovg, Kal ra tovtoi; 
napankfiaia, Kal ti'j vavrtKag vnripzaiag^ ovtb Konroptva paSioig^ ovre (TnjiTOfieva (pvuiKoiSj cav 
fir) \iav KaTo\iy(i)pr)drj. 

The goat yields no small profit from its milk, cheese, and (flesh). It also yields 
a profit from its hair, which is necessary for making ropes, sacks, and similar ar- 
ticles, and for nautical purposes, since it is not easily cut, and does not rot from 
natural causes, unless it be much neglected. — Yates's Translation. 

Cicero (in Verrem, Act i.) mentions Cilicia together with 
hides and sacks, and Asconius Pedianus in his Commentary 
on the passage (p. 95. ed. Crenii.) gives the following expla- 
nation : " Cilicia texta de pilis in castrorum usum atque nauta- 
rum." Servius on Virgil, Georg. iii. 313. says, that these Cili- 
cia, or cloths of goats'-hair, were used to cover the towers in 
sieges, because they could not be set on fire. 

The reader is referred to the Poliorcetica of Lipsius, L. iii. 
Dial. 3. p. 158. for evidence respecting the use of hair ropes for 



302 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 

military engines, and to L. v. Dial. ix. for passages from Thu- 
cydides, Arrian, Ammianus, Suidas, Vegetius, Curtius, and 
others, proving, that the besieged in cities hung Cilicia over 
their towers and walls to obviate the force of the various weap- 
ons hurled against them, and especially of the arrows, which 
carried fire. 

From Exodus we learn*, that the Israelites in the wilderness 
among their contributions to the Tabernacle gave goats'-hair, 
and that it was spun by women. The spun goats'-hair was 
probably used in part to make cords for the tent ; but part 
of it at least was woven into the large pieces, called in the Sep- 
tuagint " curtains of goats'-hair." Such curtains, or Saga, of 
spun goats'-hair seem to have been commonly used for the cov- 
ering of tentsf. 

Cloths of the same kind were used for rubbing horsest The 
term for goats'-hair cloth in Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syraic, is 
pn or pttJ, i. e. Shac, or Sac, translated SAKKOS in the Septua- 
gint, and Saccus in the Vulgate version of the Scriptures. The 
Latin Sagum, appears to have had the same origin. In Eng- 
lish we have Sack and Shag, scarcely differing from the orien- 
tal and ancient terms either in sound or sense. 



* " And thou shalt make curtains of goats'-hair to be a covering upon the tab- 
ernacle : eleven curtains shalt thou make. The length of one curtain shall be 
thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits : and the eleven curtains 
shall be all of one measure. And thou shalt couple five curtains by themselves, 
and six curtains by themselves, and shalt double the sixth curtain in the fore- 
front of the tabernacle. And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of the one 
curtain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops in the edge of the curtain 
which coupleth the second. And thou shalt make fifty taches of brass, and put 
the taches into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one. And 
the remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that re- 
maineth, shall hang over the backside of the tabernacle. And a cubit on the one 
side, and a cubit on the other side of that which remaineth in the length of the 
curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and 
on that side, to cover it." — Ex. xxvi. 7-13. 

t " And he made curtains of goats'-hair for the tent over the tabernacle : eleven 
curtains he made them. The length of one curtain was thirty cubits, and four 
cubits was the breadth of one curtain : the eleven curtains were of one size."— 
Ex. xxxvi. 14, 15. 

t Vegetii Ars Veter. I. i. c. 42. 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 303 

Cilice, the modern French term for a hair-shirt, is immedi- 
ately derived from Ciliciwn, the origin of which has been ex- 
plained*. 

This kind of cloth, which was black or dark brown, the goats 
of Syria and Palestine being chiefly of that color even to the 
present day, is alluded to in the sixth chapter of Revelations!, 
and in Is. I. 3. "I clothe the heavens with blackness and make 
sack-cloth their covering." It was worn to express mourning 
and mortification. In Jonah we have a very remarkable case, 
for on this occasion blankets of goats'-hair were put on the 
bodies both of men and beasts, and one was worn even by the 
king of Nineveh himself*. When Herod Agrippa was seized 
at Csesarea with the mortal distemper mentioned in Acts xii. 
(See chap. vi. p. 93.), the common people sat down on hair- 
cloth according to the custom of their country, beseeching God 
on his behalf. — Josephtis, Ant. Jud. I. xix. cap. 8. p. 872. 
Hudson. So according to Josephus [Ant. Jud. I. vii. cap. 7. 
p. 299.), David fell down upon sack-cloth of the same descrip- 
tion and lay on the ground praying for the restoration of his 
son. 

Hence the use of the hair-shirt by devotees in more recent 
times. St. Basil, Bishop of Ceesarea in the fourth century, in 
answer to the question, Whether a monk ought to have besides 
his night-shirt (post nocturnam tunicam) a Cilicium or any 
other, says, " Cilicii quidem usus habet proprium tempus. Non 
enim propter usus corporis, sed propter afflictionem carnis inven- 
tum est hujuscemodi indumentum, et propter humilitatem ani- 
mse§." He then adds, that as the word of God forbids us to 

* Menage, Diet. Etym. v. Cilice. 

t " And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great 
earthquake ; and the sun became as black as sack-cloth of hair, and the moon 
became as blood." — Rev. vi. 12. 

% " So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on 
sack-cloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. The word came 
unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from 
him, and covered him with sack-cloth, and sat in ashes." — Jonah iii. 5, 6. In 
v. 5. we should translate " put on hair-cloths ;" for the word is plural in the He- 
brew. 

|| From the ancient version of Rufinus, p. 175. ed. 1513. 



304 ANCIENT HISTORY OP THE GOAT. 

have two shirts, we ought not to have a second except for the 
purpose here mentioned. From this it is clear, that the Cili- 
cium was not commonly worn by the monks, but only at par- 
ticular times for the sake of humiliation. 

Dr. Sibthorp [in Memoirs, edited by Walpole,) informs us, 
that in the present day the shepherds of Attica " shear the 
goats at the same time with the sheep, about April or May," 
and that the hair is made into sacks, bags, and carpets, of 
which a considerable quantity is exported. In modern as in 
ancient times, the inhabitants of Greece subsist in a great 
measure upon goats'-milk and the cheese made from it*. 

The wives of the Arabian shepherds still weave goats'mair 
for their tents. This hair-cloth is nearly black, and resembles 
that of which our modern coal-sacks are madet. The Arabs 
also hang bags of the same cloth, containing barley, about the 
heads of their horses to supply them with food+. 

The goat, as is the case with some other quadrupeds, if con- 
fined to a country, which is hot in summer and very cold in 
winter, is always protected in the latter season by an additional 
covering of fine wool beneath its long hair. A specimen of the 
Syrian goat in the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow shows both 
the hair and the wool. In Kerman and Cashmere this very 
fine wool is obtained by combing the goats in the spring, when 
it becomes loose ; and, having been spun into yarn, it is used to 
make the beautiful shawls brought from those countries. 

We will now conclude this chapter with the following inter- 
esting communication from Mr. E. Riley, being the substance 
of a paper lately read before the Society of Arts, London. 

Mr. Riley " in 1825 and 1828 transported to that territory 
two flocks of the finest sheep procurable throughout Germany, 



* Dodwell's Tour, vol. i. p. 144. 

t Harmer's Observations, ch. ii. Obs. 36. Dr. Shaw's Travels, Part ili. ch. 3. 
§ 6. E. F. K. Rosenmuller, Biblische Alterthumskunde, iv. 2. p. 89. 

The use of goats' -hair for making cloth among the Moors is mentioned by 
Rauwolff, Travels, part ii. ch. 1, p. 123 of Ray's Translation. The herdsmen on 
the wide plains about Smyrna live in tents of " black goats' -hair." — C. Fellows's 
Discoveries in Lycia, p. 8. 

t D'Arvieux and Thevenot, ap. Harmer, ch. v. Obs. 9. 



ANCIENT HISTORY OP THE GOAT. 305 

my father had also long contemplated introducing there the 
celebrated Cashmere goat, anticipating that the fulfilment of 
his views would, in proving advantageous to himself, become 
also of ultimate benefit to the colony ; in which expectation, he 
has been encouraged from the results that have attended the 
importation of the Saxon breed of sheep into their favored cli- 
mates, the wools of New South Wales, and in proportion to 
their improvement, those also of Van Dieman's Land being 
now eagerly purchased by the most intelligent manufacturers 
in preference to those of equal prices imported from any part of 
Europe. 

".With this object in view, he subsequently, during an agricul- 
tural tour on the Continent, directed my attention to the Cash- 
mere flocks of Mons. Ternaux, and in October 1828, I met this 
distinguished man at his seat at St. Onen (Mons. Ternaux is 
a great shawl manufacturer and a Peer of France,) where he 
preserved the elite of his herds ; the animals were a mixture of 
various sizes and colors, from a perfect white to brown, with 
scarcely any stamped features as if belonging to one race ex- 
clusively ; they were covered with long coarse hair, under which 
so small a quantity of soft short down was concealed, that the 
average produce of the whole collection did not exceed three 
ounces each ; therefore, under these unfavorable circumstances, 
my father deferred for a time his intention of sending any of 
them to Australia. 

" I was then advised by the Viscomte Perrault de Jotemps, 
to see the stock of M. Polonceau at Versailles, he having, by a 
happily selected cross, succeeded in increasing the quantity and 
value of the qualities of the Cashmere goat beyond the most san- 
guine anticipations, and in consequence of his enlightened taste 
for agricultural pursuits, was also honored with the directorship 
of the model farm at Grignon. He became among the first to 
purchase a chosen selection of the original importation of the 
Cashmere goat from M. Ternaux, and some time after seeing, 
at one of the estates of the Duchesse de Beri, an Angora buck 
with an extraordinary silkiness of hair, having more the char- 
acter of long coarse but very soft down, he solicited permission 
to try the effects of a union with this fine animal and his own 

39 



306 ANCIENT HISTORY OP THE GOAT. 

pure Cashmeres. The improvement even in the first drop was 
so rapid that it induced him to persevere, and when I first saw 
his small herd they were in the third generation from the males 
produced solely by the first cross ; the unwillingness however 
of M. Polonceau to part with any number of them at this pe- 
riod (the only alienation he has made from the favorite products 
of his solicitude being two males and two females to the King 
of Wirtemberg, for the sum of 3400 francs,) caused my father 
again to postpone his intentions until my return from the Aus- 
tralasian Colonies, judging that M. Polonceau would then prob- 
ably be enabled to dispose of a sufficient number, and that the 
constancy and properties of the race would by that time be 
more decidedly determined. 

" On my arrival in England at the close of 1S31, he again 
recurred to his favorite project of introducing these animals into 
our colonies, for which purpose I went to France with the in- 
tention of purchasing a small flock of M. Polonceau, should I 
find all his expectations of the Cashmere Angora breed verified, 
which having perfectly ascertained, I at length succeeded in 
persuading M. Polonceau to cede to me ten females in kid, and 
three males, and I fortunately was able to convey the whole in 
health to London, with the intention of proceeding as speedily as 
possible with them to Port Jackson, looking sanguinely forward 
not only to their rapid increase but also to crossing the common 
goats of the country with this valuable breed, in full expecta- 
tion that they may, exclusive of their own pure down, become 
thus the means of forming a desirable addition to the already 
much prized importations from New South Wales and Van 
Dieman's Land. I am led to the conclusion that the latter re- 
sult may be accomplished, as M. Polonceau, who has tried the 
experiment with the native goat of France, has obtained ani- 
mals of the second cross very little inferior to the breed that has 
rendered his name so distinguished. He has also crossed the 
common goat with the pure Cashmere, but only obtained so 
tardy an amelioration, that it required eight or ten generations 
to produce a down simply equal to their inferior quantity and 
quality when compared to the produce of the Cashmere An- 
gora." 



ANCIENT HISTORY OP THE GOAT. 307 

Mr. Polonceau has unremittingly persevered in the improve- 
ment so immediately effected, and has proved during the seve- 
ral years which have elapsed since the first experiment in the 
year 1822, that an entire satisfactory result in the union of the 
most essential qualities of down, abundance, length, fineness, 
lustre, and softness, was accomplished by the first cross, with- 
out any return having ensued to the individual characters of 
either of the primitive races, and in consequence, he has since 
constantly propagated the produce of that cross among them- 
selves, careful only of preserving animals entirely white and of 
employing for propagation those bucks which had the down in 
the greatest quantity and of the finest quality with the smallest 
proportion of hair. 

In 1826 ; the " Societie Royale et Centrale d'Agriculture de 
Paris" acquainted with the interesting result of M. Polonceau's 
flock, being at that time in the third generation, and considering 
that the down of this new race was more valuable than that 
of the East, and that it was the most beautiful of filaceous 
materials known, as it combines the softness of Cashmere with 
the lustre of silk, awarded him their large gold medal at their 
session, 4th April, 1826, and nominated him a member of their 
society in the following year. 

In 1827, at the exhibition of the produce of National Indus- 
try, the jury appointed to judge the merits of the objects ex- 
posed, also awarded him their medal. 

At present the animals are in the twelfth generation, their 
health and vigor, the constancy of their qualities, and abun- 
dance of their down without any degeneration, prove that this 
new race may be regarded as one entirely fixed and established, 
requiring solely the care that is generally observed with valua- 
ble breeds ; that is to say, a judicious choice of those employed 
for their reproduction, and in such a climate as New South 
Wales it may be reasonably expected that the brilliant qualities 
of their down may yet be improved as has been so eminently 
the case with the wool of the merino and Saxon sheep imported 
there. 

M. Polonceau has goats that have yielded as many as thirty 
ounces of the down, in one season, and he states that the whole 



308 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE GOAT. 

of his herd produce from twelve to twenty ounces ; thus show- 
ing the astonishing advantages this new breed has over the 
uncrossed Cashmere, which never yield more than four ounces 
and seldom exceed two ounces each. 

This gentleman also states, that, the Cashmere Angora goats, 
are more robust and more easily nourished than the common 
goat, and that they are less capricious and more easily managed 
in a flock ; and from the experience he has already had, he 
finds them much more docile than even sheep. They prefer 
the leaves of trees, as do all other goats, but they thrive either 
on hay or straw, or green fodder, or in meadows ; they also 
feed with equal facility on heaths, and on the most abrupt de- 
clivities, where the sheep would perish ; they do not fear the 
cold, and are allowed to remain all the winter in open sheds. 
For the first year or two of M. P.'s experiments he thought it 
prudent to give them aromatic herbs, from time to time, but 
during the last six years he has not found it necessary. He 
knows not of any particular disease to which they are subject, 
his flock never having had any. M. P. arranges they should 
kid in March, but occasionally he takes two falls from those of 
sufficient strength during the year. 

The down commences to grow in September, and developes 
itself progressively until the end of March, when it ceases to 
grow and detaches itself, unless artificially removed. 

To collect the down, he waits the period when it begins to 
detach itself, and then the locks of down which separate from 
the skin with little force are taken off by hand ; the down is 
removed from the animals every three or four days ; in general 
it first begins to fall from the neck and shoulders, and in the 
following four or five days from the rest of the body ; the col- 
lection is completed in the space of eight or ten days. Some- 
times the entire down can be taken from the animal at one 
shearing, and almost in an unbroken fleece, when it begins to 
loosen. The shearing has the advantage of preserving more 
perfectly the parallelisms of the individual filaments, which 
much increase the facility of combing and preparing the down 
for manufacturing purposes. 



CHAPTER V, 

BEAVERS-WOOL. 

Isidorus Hispalensis— Claudian— Beckmann— Beavers'-wool— Dispersion of Bea- 
vers through Europe — Fossil bones of Beavers. 

The passage quoted from Isidore of Seville, in the last chap- 
ter, shows that the ancients made a cloth, the woof of which 
was of Beavers'-wool [defibri land), and which was therefore 
called Vestis Fibrina. By lana he must have meant the 
very fine wool, which, agreeably to the observation in the last 
paragraph, grows under the long hair of the beaver. Isidore in 
the same Book, observes, " Fibrinum lana est animalium, quae 
fibros vocant : ipsos et castores existimant." 

The following Epigram of Claudian seems intended, as 
Beckmann (iv. p. 223.) supposes, to describe "a worn-out 
beaver dress, which had nothing more left of that valuable fur 
but the name." 

ON A BEAVER MANTLE. 

The shadow of its ancient name remains : 
But, if no nap of beaver it retains, 
A Beaver Mantle it can scarce be nam'd. 
The price, however, proves its claim : it cost 
Six pounds. Hence, though all lustre it has lost, 
Yet, bought so dear, as beaver let it still be fam'd. 

Sidonius Apollinaris calls those who used this costly apparel 
castorinati. Lib. v. Epist. 7. p. 313. Paris, 1599, Ato. 

Gerbert, or Gilbert, surnamed the Philosopher, and afterwards 
Pope Silvester II., commenting on the qualities of a good 
Bishop according to 1 Timothy iii. 1., says in reference to the 
word " ornatum :" 

" Quod si juxta sensum literae tantum respiciamus, non aliud, sacerdotes, quam 
amictum quaeremus clariorem ; verbi gratia, castorinas quaeremus et sericas ves- 
tes : et ille se inter episcopas credet esse altiorem, qui vestem induerit clariorem. 
Sed S. Apostolus taliter se intelligi non vult, quia non carne, &c." — De Informa- 
tions Episcoporum, seu De Dignitate Sacerdotali, in ed. Benedict. Opp. S. 
Ambrosii, torn. ii. p. 358. 



310 BEAVERS-WOOL. 

" An upper garment of this cloth was worn by the Emperor 
Nicephorus II. at his coronation in the year 936." — Beckmann, 
I. c. § 31. 

"This method of manufacturing beavers'-hair," observes 
Beckmann, " seems not to have been known in the time of 
Pliny ; for, though he speaks much of the castor, and mentions 
pellis fibrina three times, he says nothing in regard to man- 
ufacturing the hair, or to beaver-fur." 

It seems probable, that the Greeks and Romans did not use 
cloth of beavers'-wool until the 4th century. In an earlier age 
the furs and drugs supplied by beavers were obtained from the 
countries to the North of the Euxine Sea. But in the period 
now under consideration the intercourse of the Romans with the 
West of Europe would open a much more extended sphere for 
procuring the Vestes Fibrinse, since we have traces of the ex- 
istence of beavers in almost all parts of Europe. Their appear- 
ance in Wales, Scotland, Germany, and the North of Europe 
generally, is attested by Giraldus Cambrensis*. 

Dr. Patrick Neill, in a valuable paper on this subject,t has 
given an account of the bones of recent beavers found in Perth- 
shire and Berwickshire. They have also been found in Cam- 
bridgeshire J. We learn from the life of Wulstan§, that beaver- 
furs, as well as those of sables, foxes, and other quadrupeds, 
were used by the Anglo-Saxons in very early times for lining 
their garments. Other modern authors speak of their occur- 
rence in Austria, Hungary, and the North of Italy ||. They 
are still found in Sweden.^" Strabo informs us, that in his time 
they frequented the rivers of Spain**. 

Buffon says (Hist. Nat. tome 26. p. 98.), "There are bea- 
vers in Languedoc in the islands of the Rhone, and great num- 



* Topographia Hibernian, c. 21, and Itinerarium Cambriae, 1. ii. c. 3. 
t Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. i. p. 177-187. 

+ Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, vol. i. part i. p. 175. 
§ See Extracts in Henry's History of Britain, vol. iv. 

|| Muratori, Antichita Italiane, tomo ii. p. 110. Napoli, 1783. The authors, 
cited by Muratori, are Gervase of Tilbury, and Mathioli. 
IT Travels in Sweden, by Dr. Thomas Thomson, p. 411. 
** Lib. iii. 163. vol. i. p. 737, ed. Siebenkees. 



BEAVERS-WOOL. 311 

bers of them in the North of Europe." " But as human popu- 
lation extends," he observes, " beavers, like other animals, are 
dispersed, become solitary, fugitive, or conceal themselves in the 
ground : they cease to unite in bands, to engage in building or 
other undertakings." 

" We have been unable to ascertain," says Cuvier*, " after the 
most scrupulous comparisons, if the Castors or Beavers, which 
burrow along the Rhone, the Danube, and the Weser, are dif- 
ferent in species from those of North America, or if they are 
prevented from building by the vicinity of man." The same 
distinguished author in his work on Fossil Bones says, " The 
greater part of our European rivers having formerly supported 
beavers, and some of them doing so still, viz. the Gardon and 
the Rhone in France, the Danube in Bavaria and Austria, and 
several small rivers in Westphalia and Saxony, we cannot be 
surprised to find their bones preserved in our mosses, or turba- 
ries." He then mentions instances of the heads and teeth of 
beavers, in the valley of the Somme in Picardy, in the valley of 
Tonnis-stein near Andermach, and at Urdingen on the Rhine 
in Rhenish Prussiat- 



* Kegne Animal, vol. iii. p. 65. of Griffith's Translation. 

+ Cuvier, Ossemens Fossiles, tome v. partie lere, p. 55. ; partie 2nde, p. 518. 
See also Annales du Museum d'Hist. Naturelle, tomo xiv. p. 47. 



CHAPTER VI. 

CAMELS-WOOL AND CAMELS-HAIR. 

Camels' -wool and Camels' -hair — Ctesia's account — Testimony of modern travel- 
lers — Arab tent of Camels' -hair — Fine cloths still made of Camels' -wool — The 
use of h air of various animals in the manufacture of beautiful stuns by the ancient 
Mexicans — Hair used by the Candian women in the manufacture of broidered 
stuffs — Broidered stuffs of the negresses of Senegal — Their great beauty. 

We are informed by Ctesias, in a fragment of the 10th Book 
of his Persic History, that there were camels in a part of Persia, 
whose hair, soft as Milesian fleeces, was used to make gar- 
ments for the priests and the other potentates*. 

John the Baptist wore a garment of camels'-hair ; but this 
must be supposed to have been coarse. [Matt. iii. 4., Mark i. 
6.)t. This passage of scripture is illustrated by Harmer in the 
following observation^ : 

" This hair, Sir J. Chardin tells us (in his MS. note on 1 
Sam. xxv. 4.) is not shorn from the camels like wool from 
sheep, but they pull off this woolly hair, which the camels are 
disposed to cast off; as many other creatures, it is well known, 
change their coats yearly. This hair is made into cloth now. 
Chardin assures us the modern dervishes wear such garments." 

Campbell, the poet, mentions a tent of camels'-hair cloth, 
which he saw at an Arab encampment between Oran and Mas- 
cara in the kingdom of Algiers. It was 25 feet in diameter 
and very lofty. (Letters from the South, 1837, vol. ii. p. 

* Apollonii Mirabilia xx. iElian, Hist. An. xvii. 34. Ctesias Fragmenta, a 
Bahr, p. 224. 

t " And the same John had his raiment of camels'-hair, and a leathern girdle 
about his loins ; and his meat was locusts and wild honey." — Matt. iii. 4, also in 
Mark: 

" And John was clothed with camels'-hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his 
loins ; and he did eat locusts and wild honey. ' — Mark i. 6. 

t Ch. xi. Obs. 83. vol. iv. p. 416. ed. Clarke. 



CAMELS- WOOL AND CAMELS-HAIR. 313 

212.) He also mentions (vol i. p. 161.) that the Kabyles or 
Berbers, who live in the vicinity of Algiers, and are descended 
from the original occupants of the country, dwell in " tents of 
camels'-hair." We are informed that the Chinese make car- 
pets of the same material*. Coverlets of goats' or camels'-hair 
are used by the soldiers in Turkey to sleep underf. " The Cir- 
cassians, when marching, or on a journey, always add to their 
other garments a cloak made from camel or goats'-hair, with a 
hood, which completely envelopes the whole person. It is im- 
penetrable by rain ; and it forms their bed at night, and pro- 
tects them from the scorching sun by dayt" 

Fortunatus, in his life of St. Martin (1. iv.), describes a gar- 
ment of such cloth ; but it may be doubted whether he took 
his description from actual knowledge of the use of it, or only 
from the account in Matthew of the dress of John the Baptist 
already quoted. 

Camels'-hair of annual growth would vary in fineness ac- 
cording to circumstances, and might be used either for the 
coarse raiment of prophets and dervises, or for the costly 
shawls, to which Ctesias alludes. Fine wool, adapted to the 
latter purpose, might also grow, as in the goat and beaver, be- 
neath the long hair of the camel. It has been doubted 
whether cloth so fine and beautiful as Ctesias asserts, could pos- 
sibly be obtained from camels. The following accounts by 
modern, travellers illustrate and justify the statement of the 
suspected ancient. 

Marco Polo, who travelled in the 13th century, in his account 
of the city of Kalaka, which was in the province of Tangut 
and subject to the Great Kahn, says§, " In this city they manu- 
facture beautiful camelots, the finest known in the world, of the 
hair of camels and likewise of fine wool." According to Pallas, 
(Travels, vol. ii. § 8.,) " From the hair of the camel the Tartar 
women in the plains of the Crimea manufacture a narrow 

* China, its Costume, Arts, Manufactures, &c, by Bertin : translated from 
the French. London, 1812, vol. iv. 

t Travels in Circassia, by Edmund Spencer, vol. i. p. 202. 

t Ibid. vol. ii. p. 219. 

§ Book i. ch. 52. p. 235. of Marsden's Translation. 

40 



314 CAMELs'-WOOL AND CAMELs'-HAIR. 

cloth, which is used in its natural color, and is extremely warm, 
soft, and light." According to Prosper Alpinus, (Hist. Nat. 
JEgypti, I- iv. c. 7. p. 225.) the Egyptians manufactured from 
the hair of their camels not only coarse cloth for their tents, 
but other kinds so fine as to be worn not only by princes but 
even by the senators of Venice. 

Elphinstone, in his account of Cabul (p. 295.J, mentions, 
that " Oormuck, a fine cloth made of camels'-wool," is among 
the articles imported into Cabul from the Bokhara country. 
This country lies North of the Oxus, and East of the Southern 
extremity of the Caspian Sea, and is probably the country, to 
which Ctesias more especially referred. A still more recent au- 
thority is that of Moorcroft, who informs us, that " Cloth is now 
made from the wool of the wild camels of Khoten in Chinese 
Tartary," and that " at Astrakhan a fine cloth is manufactured 
from the wool of the camel foal of the first year*." 

* Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. i. p. 241, 242. 

It is customary in many parts of the East, as it was in Mexico in the time of 
Cortes (See Part Third, Chapter I.) to use the hair of various animals in em- 
broidering garments. The Candian women even embroider with their own hair, 
as well as that of animals, with which they make splendid representations of 
flowers, foliage, &c. : they also insert the skins of eels and serpents. 

According to M. de Busson, the negresses of Senegal, embroider the skins of 
various beasts, representing figures, flowers, and animals, in every variety of 
color. 







p. 






I 



PART THIRD, 

ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 



CHAPTER I. 

GREAT ANTIQUITY OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURE 
IN INDIA — UNRIVALLED SKILL OF THE INDIAN 
WEAVER. 

Superiority of Cotton for clothing, compared with linen, both in hot and cold cli- 
mates — Cotton characteristic of India— Account of Cotton by Herodotus, 
Ctesias, Theophrastus, Aristobulus, Nearchus, Pomponius Mela — Use of Cot- 
ton in India — Cotton known before silk and called Carpasus, Carpasum, Car- 
basum, &c. — Cotton awnings used by the Romans — Carbasus applied to linen 
— Last request of Tibullus — Muslin fillet of the vestal virgin — Linen sails, &c. 
called Carbasa — Valerius Flaccus introduces muslin among the elegancies in 
the dress of a Phrygian from the river Rhyndacus — Prudentius's satire on prido 
— Apuleius's testimony— Testimony of Sidonius Apollinaris, and Avienus — 
Pliny and Julius Pollux — Their testimony considered — Testimony of Tertullian 
and Philostratus^Of Martianus Capella — Cotton paper mentioned by The- 
ophylus Presbyter — Use of Cotton by the Arabians — Cotton not common an- 
ciently in Europe — Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville's testimony of the 
Cotton of India — Forbes's description of the herbaceous Cotton of Guzerat — 
Testimony of Malte Brim — Beautiful Cotton textures of the ancient Mexicans 
— Testimony of the Abbe Clavigero — Fishing nets made from Cotton by the 
inhabitants of the West India Islands, and on the continent of South Amer- 
ica — Columbus's testimony — Cotton used for bedding by the Brazilians. 

Among all the materials which the skill of man converts into 
comfortable and elegant clothing - , that which appears likely to 
be the most extensively useful, though it was the last to be 
generally diffused, is the beautiful produce of the cotton-plant. 

The properties of cotton strongly recommend it for clothing, 
especially in comparison with linen, both in hot and cold coun- 
tries. Linen has, indeed, in some respects the advantage; it 
forms a smooth, firm, and beautiful cloth, and is very agreeable 
wear in temperate climates ; but it is less comfortable than cot- 



316 THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 

ton, and less conducive to health, either in heat or in cold. 
Cotton, being a bad conductor of heat, as compared with linen, 
preserves the body at a more equable temperature. The func- 
tions of the skin, through the medium of perspiration, are the 
great means of maintaining the body at an equable temper- 
ature amidst the vicissitudes of the atmosphere. But linen, 
like all good conductors of heat, freely condenses the vapor of 
perspiration, and accumulates moisture upon the skin : the 
wetted linen becomes cold, chills the body, and checks perspira- 
tion, thus not only producing discomfort, but endangering 
health. Calico, on the other hand, like all bad conductors of 
heat, condenses little of the perspiration, but allows it to pass 
off in the form of vapor. Moreover, when the perspiration is 
so copious as to accumulate moisture, calico will absorb a great- 
er quantity of that moisture than linen. It has therefore a 
double advantage, — it accumulates less moisture, and absorbs 
more. 

From the above considerations, it is evident that in cold cli- 
mates, or in the nocturnal cold of tropical climates, cotton 
clothing is much better calculated to preserve the warmth of 
the body than linen. In hot climates, also, it is more conducive 
to health and comfort, by admitting of freer perspiration*. 

Wool, as we have seen, was principally used for weaving in 
Palestine and Syria, in Asia Minor, Greece, Italy and Spain ; 
hemp in the Northern countries of Europe ; flax in Egypt 
(The history of the two last, hemp and flax, is given in Part 
IV. to which the reader is referred.) ; silk in the central regions 
of Asiaf. In like manner cotton has always been charac- 
teristic of India. We find this circumstance distinctly noticed 
by Herodotust. Among the valuable products, for which India 
was remarkable, he states, that " the wild trees in that country 
bear fleeces as their fruit, surpassing those of sheep in beauty 
and excellence : and the Indians use cloth made from these 



* Bains's " History of the Cotton Manufacture," p. 12. 
t See Map PlateVII. atthe end of Part IV. 
X L. iii. c. 106. 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 317 

trees." In the same book (c. 47.) Herodotus says, that the tho- 
rax or cuirass sent by Amasis, king of Egypt, to Sparta, was 
" adorned with gold and with fleeces from trees." These sub- 
stances were perhaps used in the weft to form the figures ({&), 
which were woven into the thorax; but it appears equally 
probable that the gold only was thus employed, the cotton 
being used as an inside lining or stuffing : and in this case it is 
possible, that the down of the Bombax Ceiba, a tree allied to 
the Cotton-plant {Gossypium), may have been used, since, 
though not fitted for spinning or weaving, it has long been used 
in India for the stuffing of pillows and similar purposes, and 
would be included under the phrase employed by Herodotus, 
" wool" or "fleeces from trees." The thorax may have been 
made in Egypt ; but the materials, used to enrich it, were prob- 
ably imported : for we have no proof, that either gold or cotton 
of any kind was found in that country as a native product in 
the time of Amasis. 

Ctesias, the contemporary of Herodotus, seems also to have 
known the fact of the use of a kind of wool, the produce of 
trees, for spinning and weaving among the Indians. It is evi- 
dent that Ctesias referred exclusively to cotton cloths, as may 
be inferred from the testimony of Varro, as we find it in Servius 
(Comm. in Virgilii 2En. i. 649.). " Ctesias ait in India esse 
arbores, quae lanam ferant." 

The expedition of Alexander the Great into India contribu- 
ted to make the Greeks better acquainted than before with cot- 
ton. Hence it is distinctly mentioned by Theophrastus, the 
disciple of Aristotle. He says, "The trees, from which the 
Indians make cloths, have a leaf like that of the Black Mul- 
berry ; but the whole plant resembles the dog-rose. They set 
them in the plains arranged in rows, so as to look like vines at 
a distance*." In a succeeding part of the same book (c. 7. p. 
143, 144. ed Schneider) he notices the growth of cotton, not 
only in India, but in Arabia, and in the island called Tylos, 
which he places in the Arabian Gulf, although it was probably 

* Hist. PI iv. c. 4. p. 132. ed. Schneider. 



318 THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 

in the Persian Gulf, near the Arabian coast*. According to his 
account in the latter passage, " The wool-bearing trees, which 
grew abundantly in this island, had a leaf like that of the vine, 
but smaller ; they bore no fruit, but the capsule cantaining the 
wool, was, when closed, about the size of a quince, when ripe, 
it expanded so as to emit the wool, which was woven into 
cloths, either cheap, or of great value." 

Sprengel in his German translation (p. 150. vol. ii.) sup- 
poses the Broussonetia Papyrifera to be meant in the former 
passage. But he gives no good reason for this supposition, and 
he admits, that the Broussonetia Papyrifera grows in China, 
not in India. The expression of Theophrastus, &<nttp i\e X 8r,, which 
he employs in the latter passage (c. 9. p. 144. ed. Schneider), 
clearly proves, that he is speaking of the same plant in 
both passages, and Sprengel himself (p. 164.) supposes the 
Gossypium Arboreum of Linnaeus, the Cotton Tree, to be 
meant in the latter, though not in the former. The description 
of Theophrastus is remarkably exact, if we consider it as ap- 
plying, not to the Cotton Tree ( Gossypium Arboreum), but to 
the Cotton Plant ( G. Herbaceum), from which the chief sup- 
ply of cotton for spinning and weaving into cloth has always 
been obtained. 

Aristobulus, one of Alexander's generals, made mention of 
the cotton-plant under the name of the Wool-bearing Tree, and 
stated that its capsule contained seeds, which were taken out, and 
that what remained was combed like woolf. 

The testimony of Nearchus, who was the admiral of Alexan- 
der, is also preserved to the following effect ; " that there were 
in India trees bearing, as it were, flocks or bunches of wool ; 
that the natives made linen garments of it, wearing a shirt, 
which reached to the middle of the leg, a sheet folded about 
the shoulders, and a turban rolled round the head ; and that 
the linen made by them from this substance was fine and 
whiter than any other." It is to be observed, that Nearchus, or 



* See the Map,— Plate vii. at the end of Part iv. Bochart, Geogr. Sacra, p. 
766. Cadomi, 1651. Heeren, Ideen, i. 2. p. 214-219. 
t Strabo, L. xv. c. 1. vol. vi. p. 43. ed. Siebenkees. 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 319 

rather the two later authors who quote him, viz. Arrian and 
Strabo, use the terms for linen in a general sense, as including 
all fine light cloths made of vegetable substances*. 

We read in the account of India by Pomponius Mela (L. iii. 
c. 7.), that the woods produced wool, used by the natives for 
clothing. He distinctly mentions the use of flax likewise. It 
has been conjectured, that he may have taken his account from 
Nearchus, or some other Greek writer, and that he may have 
intended to speak only of the use of cotton. But in reply to 
this it is to be observed, that Pomponius Mela here mentions 
flax in opposition to cotton, and that his assertion, so understood, 
was probably true, since we have other evidence to show that 
flax grows in India as well as cotton. (See Part IV.) Never- 
theless it seems necessary to understand other authors of the 
same period as meaning cotton by the term Xivov, or linum. 
Thus I^6nUeius Periegetes (I. 1116), speaking of the employ- 
ments of the Indians, says, Oi Ss Iutovs tyowat \ivepyea;, which prob- 
ably meant " some weave muslins." In the same manner we 
must interpret the assertion of Q,uintus Curtius, " Terra lini 
ferax, unde plerisque supt vestes ;" i. e., The land produces 
flax, from which the greater part obtain garments. Soon after 
this Curtius says in terms more strictly proper, 

Corpora usque pedes carbaso velant, soleis pedes, capita linteis vinciunt. 
They cover their bodies from head to foot with carbasus ; they bind shoes about 
their feet, linen cloths about their heads. 

Again, speaking of the dress of the King, he says, 

Distincta sunt auro et purpura carbasa, quee indutus est. L. viii. 9. 
The carbasa which he wore, were spotted with purple and gold. 

In like manner, Lucan, describing the Indian nations, says, 

Who drink sweet juices from the tender cane, 
With dyes of crocus stain their hair, and fix 
With color'd gems the flowing carbasus. 

L. iii. v. 239. 

Strabo says, (L. xv. c. 1. vol. vi. p. 153. ed. Sieb.) 

That the Indians use white raiment, and fine white cloths and carpasa. 

* Arriani Rer. Indie, p. 522. 539. ed. Blancardi. Strabo, L. xv. c. 1. vol. vi. 
p. 40. ed. Sieb. 



320 THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 

Also the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea states, that the re- 
gion about the Gulf of Barygaza in India was productive " of 
Carpasus and of the fine Indian cloths made of it*." These 
were what we now call India muslins. These muslins we 
are informed by Dr. Vincent, were imported into Egypt, and 
accordingly Pacatust represents Antony's army as wearing cot- 
ton in that country. 

The term Carbasus, is evidently used by the five last-cited 
authors to signify cotton ; for they employ it in describing the 
common dress of the Indians. As the Greeks and Romans be- 
came acquainted with cotton much earlier than with silk, we 
find that Carpas, the proper Oriental name for cotton, was 
also in use among them at a comparatively early period ; and 
we shall now endeavor to trace the progress of this term from 
India, Westward. With little variation it is found in the same 
sense in the Sanscrit, Arabic, and Persic languages*. 

This word occurs once in the Hebrew Scriptures, viz. Esther, 
i. 6., and there evidently as a foreign term. The hangings, 
used to decorate the court of the royal palace at Susa on occa- 
sion of the great feast given by Ahasjierus, are thus described 
in the common version of the Scriptures : — 

"Where were white, green, and blue hangings, fastened with cords of fine 
linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble : the beds were of gold and 
6ilver upon a pavement of red and blue and white and black marble." 

The word, corresponding to "green" in the original is Carpas 
(dais). It has been translated "green" by the authors of 
the common version on the authority of the Chaldee Para- 
phrase. 

The earliest instance of the use of the oriental name in any 
classical author is the line from Statius Ceecilius, who died 169 
B. C. as quoted by Nonius Marcellus {I. xvi.) from the Pau- 
simachus of Statius : 



* Arriani Opp. v. ii. p. 165. ed. Blancard. t Paneg. Theodosii, c. 33. 

■t Celsii Hierobot. vol. ii. p. 159. Sir W. Jones, in As. Researches, vol. iv. p. 
226. London Edition. Schlegel, Indische Bibliotek, ii. p. 393. E. F. K. Ro- 
senmuller, Biblische Alterthumskunde, 4. 1. p. 173. 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 321 

Carbasina, molochina, ampelina*. 

As these words are all three Greek, and the play, in which the 
verse occurred, was also called by a Greek name, we cannot 
doubt, that Statius translated it according to his usual custom 
from one of the writers of the New Comedy. We may there- 
fore infer with some confidence from this expression, that the 
Greeks made use of muslins or calicoes, or at least of cotton 
cloths of some kind, which were brought from India as early 
as 200 years B. C. 

After some time the oriental custom of using cotton as a 
protection from the sun's rays was adopted also by the Romans. 
Cotton was not only a cheaper and commoner article than silk, 
but it was particularly adapted for this purpose on account of 
its lightness, as well as its beauty and fineness ; antL besides the 
instance already cited from the book of Esther, we may ob- 
serve also, that where the Latin authors mention the use of 
" Carbasa," it is sometimes for purposes of this kind. " Taber- 
nacula carbaseis intenta velis," i. e. " Tents with coverings of 
cotton," were among the expensive novelties which contributed 
to the luxury of Yerres, when Preetor in Sicilyt. The same 
species of ornament was first displayed at Rome in the mag- 
nificent sedileship of P. Lentulus Spinther, at the Apollinarian 
games and in the year 63 B. C. 

" At a later period awnings of linen were used to keep out the sun, but original- 
ly in the theatres only, which contrivance was first adopted by Q. Catulus, when 
he dedicated the capitol. After this Lentulus Spinther is said to have first intro- 
duced cotton awnings in the theatre at the Apollinarian games. By and by 
Caesar the Dictator covered with awnings the whole Roman forum, and the sacred 
way, from his own house even to the ascent of the Capitoline hill, which is said 
to have appeared more wonderful than the gladiatorial exhibition itself. After- 
wards, without exhibiting games, Marcellus the son of Octavia, sister of Augustus, 
when he was iEdile and his uncle consul the eleventh timet, on the day before 



* See C. C. Statii Fragmenta, a Leonhardo Spengel, Monachii 1829, p. 35. 

Statius chiefly copied from Menander (Gellius ii. c. 16.) ; but we cannot find, 
that Menander wrote any play called Pausimachus. 

f This was about the year 70 B. C. Cic. in Verrem, Act. ii. 1. v. c. 12. 

X The following are the datee of the display of awnings on the several occasions 
referred to : — 

41 



322 THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 

the Kalends of August, protected the forum from the rays of the sun, that the 
persons engaged in lawsuits might stand with less injury to their health. What 
a change from the manners which prevailed under Cato the Censor, who thought 
that the forum should even be strewed with caltrops ! Of late sky-blue awnings, 
spotted with stars, have been extended by means of strong ropes, even in the am- 
phitheatre of the Emperor Nero. Red awnings are used to cover the atria of 
houses, and they defend the moss from the sun. As for the rest, white linen has 
always remained in favor. This plant was honored in the Trojan war. For 
why should it not perform its part in battles as well as in shipwrecks ? Homer 
testifies, that a few of his warriors fought in linen cuirasses. The tackle of his 
ships was also of flax, according to some of his more learned interpreters, who ar- 
gue that by the term sparia he meant sata, or things that are sown." — Pliny, 
Lib. xix. chap. vi. 

Lucretius apparently refers to the introduction by Lentulus 
Spinther of the cotton awnings above mentioned (vi. 108.), when 
he is theorising on the cause of thunder, and compares the 
clouds spread over the sky to the awnings of calico, which 
veiled the theatres and sheltered the spectators from the sun : 

Carbasus ut quondam magnis intenta theatris 
Dat crepitum, malos inter jactata trabeisque. 
As flaps the cotton, spread above our heads 
In the vast theatres from mast to beam. 

We now find frequent mention of cotton by the poets of the 
Augustan age and by many subsequent writers. As in the 
case of silk, these authors introduce cotton, not only historically, 
but for the purpose of embellishment ; and, considering Carba- 
sus as a poetical term, they often by a catachresis employ it 
where they mean to speak of linen. Also as was before ob- 
served in regard to silk (Part I. chapter II.), it may likewise be 
noticed here, that the wars against Mithridates and the Par- 
thians may have contributed to make the Romans familiar 
with the use of cotton, although their chief supply of it was 
more probably through Egypt, than through Persia and Baby- 
lonia. 



Linen awnings first used in the theatre at the dedication of the temple 

of Jupiter by Catulus - - - 69 B. C. 

Cotton awnings first used in the theatre by Lentulus Spinther, July 6th, 63 B. C. 

Linen used to cover the forum and Via Sacra at the gladiatorial show 

by Julius Ccesar - - - - - - - - - 46 B. C- 

Linen awnings extended over the forum by Marcellus, July 31st - 23 B. C. 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 323 

Catullus (64.), speaking of the black sail which iEgeus fur- 
nished for the ships of his son Theseus, calls it " Carbasus 
Ibera" " an Iberian sail." As, on the one hand, he here uses 
the proper term for cotton, without intending to describe the sail 
as cotton, so on the other hand he calls the sail Iberian merely 
because Iberia was a country adjoining Colchis, and from Col- 
chis (as will be shown in Part IV.) the Greeks and Romans 
obtained a great supply of flax and sail-cloth. 

Tibullus, or Lygdamus, entreats (iii. 2. 17.), in the contem- 
plation of his death and funeral, that after his bones have been 
washed, first with wine, and then with milk, they may be dried 
" carbaseis velis," with linen napkins. Although he uses the 
proper term for cotton, he probably did not intend to denote any 
preference for cotton rather than linen. His bones, after being 
wiped, were to be deposited in a marble urn. 

Propertius seems to have aimed at a display of knowledge on 
these subjects (see Part First, chapter II.) ; and in the follow- 
ing passage (iv. 3.) he probably used Carbasa in its proper 
sense, as he is referring to Eastern habits : 
Raptave odorata carbasa lina duci. 
Muslins taken among the spoils from a scented general 
In the last Elegy of the same Book he refers to the story of 
the young Vestal virgin, who, when the flame was extinguished 
upon the altar committed to her care, and when the scourge 
appeared to await her for her neglect, threw upon the ashes a 
fillet of muslin from her head, and saved her life by its ignition, 
which was supposed to be effected by the favor of the goddess : 

Vel cui, commissos cum Vesta reposceret ignes, 
Exhibuit vivos carbasus alba focos. 
The firs had died, and Vesta urged her claim, 
When the white cotton show'd a living flame. 

The story is related by Valerius Maximus (i. 7.). Although 
we are not informed of the date of the event, it appears from 
his language that the fillet was of fine muslin : " Cum carba- 
sum, quam optimum habebat, foculo imposuisset, subito ignis 
emicuit." This description is well suited to the nature of cot- 
ton, than which nothing was more easily ignited. 

The passage in Virgil's Georgics, which mentions cotton, has 



324 THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 

been already quoted (See Part I. chapter II. p. 24.). By the 
^Ethiopians, whose groves were " white with soft wool," he 
probably intended those of Arabia ; and we may suppose him to 
have referred to accounts, not so much of the Gossypium Her- 
baceum, to which the word " groves" (?iemora) would not apply, 
as to groves of Gossypium Arboreum and Bombyx Ceiba. In 
the following passages of iEneid he mentions cotton under its 
proper name, though probably not intending to distinguish ac- 
curately between cotton and linen, and only using the term for 
the sake of ornament : — 

Jamque dies, alterque dies proeessit, et aurae 

Vela vocunt, tumidoque inflatur carbasus austro. iii. 356. 

Two days were past, and now the southern gales 

Call us aboard, and stretch the swelling sails. 

Pitt's Translation. 
Vocat jam carbasus auras ; 
Puppibus et laeti nautae imposuere coronas, iv. 417. 
The flapping sail invites the gales ; the poops 
By the glad seamen are already crown'd. 

Eum (jluvium Tiberim) tenuis glauco velabat amictu 
Carbasus, et crines umbrosa tegebat arundo. viii. 33. 
Thin muslin veils him with its sea-green folds ; 
His head a copious shade of reeds sustains. 

Turn croceam chlamydem, sinusque crepantes 
Carbaseos fulvo in nodum collegerat auro. xi. 775. 
His saffron chlamys, and each rustling fold 
Of muslin was confined with glittering gold. 

This last passage is part of the description of the attire of 
Chloreus, the Phrygian, whose muslin chlamys may have rus- 
tled in consequence of being interwoven with gold. 

OVID. 
Totaque malo 
Carbasa deducit, venientesque excipit auras. — Met. xi. 477. 
The active seamen now unfurl the sails, 
And spread them wide to catch the coming gales. 

Carbasa mota sonant, jubet uti navita ventis. xiii. 420. 
The flapping sails resound ; the captain bids advance. 
Cum dabit aura viam, praebebis carbasa ventis. — Epist. vii. 171. 
When the gale favors, give the wind your sails. 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 325 

Sed non, quo dederas a litore carbasa, vento 

Utendum, medio cum potiare freto. — Art. Am. ii. 357. 
The wind to which you give your sails on shore, 
In the mid ocean will assist no more. 

Dumque parant torto subducere carbasa lino. — Fast. iii. 587. 
They now with twisted ropes let down the sails. 

In all these passages Ovid uses carbasa in the improper sense : 
it was an easy transition from the idea of a cotton awning 1 , 
with which the Romans had become familiar, to apply the 
term to the sail of a ship. To these examples we may add the 
following : 

Et sequitur curvus fugienta carbasa delphin. 

Seneca, (Ed. ii. prope fin. 

The dolphin curved pursues the flying sails. 

Strictaque pendentes deducunt carbasa nautse. — Lucan, ii. 697. 

The mariners confine the sails with cords, 

And, clinging to the mast, they take them down. 

Recto deprendit carbasa malo. ix. 324. 

The mast stands upright ; he takes down the sails. 

Jamque adeo egressi steterant in littore primo, 
Et promota, ratis pendentibus arbore nautis, 
Aptabant sensim pulsanti carbasa vento. 

Silius Ilalicus. Pun. iii. 128. 

They leave the port and reach the shore : aloft 

They hang upon the mast, and by degrees 

They fit the sails to catch the beating wind. 

Festinant trepidi substringere carbasa nautae. 

Martial, I. xii. ep. 29. 
The trembling seamen haste to reef their sails. 
Prima?, carbasa ventilantis, aura?. — Statius, Sylv. iv. 3. 106. 
Of the first gale, which breathes upon the sails. 

Statius also mentions " Carbasei sinus," the folds of cotton in 
the chlamys of a Bacchanal ( Theb. vii. 658.). 

jEstivos penetrent oneraria carbasa fluctus. — Rutilius, i. 221. 
Postquam tua carbasa vexit — Oceanus. — Vol. Flaccus, i. 
Necdum alia? viderunt carbasa terra?. — Ibid. 

Valerius Flaccus also introduces muslin among the elegan- 
ces in the dress of a Phrygian from the river Rhyndacus. 



326 THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 

Tenuai non ilium candentis carbasa lini, 
Non auro depicta chlamys, non flava galeri 
Csesaries, pictoqae juvant subtemine braccse. vi. 228. 

No aid to him his chalmys white as snow, 
Muslin with gold enrich'd, his yellow curls 
Of artificial hair, and figured pantaloons. 

(See Part 1, chap. iii. p. 59.) 

Also Prudentius, the Christian poet (See Part 1, chap. iii. p. 
59.), in an elaborate account of Pride, depicts her in a garment 
of the same kind : 

Carbasea ex humeris summo collecta coibat 

Palla sinu, teretem nectens a pectore nodum. — Psycliom. 186. 

A muslin kercbief by a knot compress'd, 
Pass'd o'er her shoulders, and adorn'd her breast. 

Tanta tamque multiplici fertilitate abundat rerum omnium Cyprus, ut nullius 
externi indigens adminiculi, indigenis viribus, a fundamento ipso carina? ad supre- 
mos usque carbasos aedificet onerarium navem, omnibusque armamentis instructam 
mari committat. — Amm. Marcellinus, xiv. 8. 

Apuleius mentions carbasina in conjunction with bombycina 
and other kinds of cloth*. He may consequently be presumed 
to use the word in its proper sense, to wit, as denoting calico or 
muslin. In the same manner cotton is distinguished from silk 
by Sidonius Apollinarist. Also we may presume that cotton 
and not linen sails are to be understood in the following line of 
Avienus : 

Si tamen in Boream flectantur carbasa cymba?. 

Descr. Orbis, 799. 

Here the writer not only professes to give geographical informa- 
tion, but he is describing the Indian seas and islands ; and as 
in the present day, so also in ancient times, the sails used in the 
navigation of those seas were probably made of cotton. 

Strabo uses the word Kapmaivai in describing the official dress of 
a certain class of priestesses among the CimbriJ. Although it 

* Metamorphoseon 1. viii. p. 579, 580. ed. Oudendorpii. (Quoted in Part 
First, Chapter ii. p. 35.) 

t L. ii. Epist. 2. (Quoted in Part First, Chapter iii. p. 61.). 
t L. vii. cap. 2. § 3. p. 336. ed. Siebenkees. 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 327 

is possible, that muslin may have been conveyed to them to be 
u&ed on solemn occasions, it appears more probable that fine 
linen or cambric, which was manufactured at no great distance 
among the Atrebates, ought here to be understood. 

Pliny mentions cotton in four different passages of his Nat- 
ural History. Two of them are translated with some inaccu- 
racies from the passages of Theophrastus. To his translation 
of one of these passages Pliny annexes the remark, derived 
perhaps from some other source, that the inhabitants of Tylos 
called their Cotton Trees gossympins, and that an island 
which was called the smaller Tylos, distant ten miles, was still 
more fertile in cotton than the larger island of the same name. 

The third passage introduces cotton under its proper name, 
Carbasa. It would imply that cotton was first grown or man- 
ufactured at Tarraco in Spain, than which assertion nothing 
can be more inaccurate and groundless. 

The fourth passage is also contrary to all previous evidence, 
inasmuch as it represents cotton to be the native growth of 
Egypt. It calls the Cotton Plant gossypion, and hence the 
name has been given to it by modern botanists. Supposing 
this last passage to be genuine, still we know not on what au- 
thority Pliny depended, or from what source he derived his in- 
formation, nor can we tell to what extent he allowed himself to 
be inaccurate in transcribing or translating. Taken by itself, 
therefore, it appears to us that this passage is no better proof of 
the growth of cotton anciently in Egypt than the third passage 
is of its first discovery in Spain. 

In Upper Egypt, towards Arabia, there grows a shrub, which some call gos- 
sypium, and others xylon, from which the stuffs are made which we call xylina. 
It is small, and bears a fruit resembling the filbert, within which is a downy wool, 
which is spun into thread. There is nothing to be preferred to these stuffs for 
whiteness or softness : beautiful garments are made from them for the priests of 
Egypt* 

This passage seems however deserving of more consideration, 
when taken in conjunction with the following from the Ono- 
masticon of Julius Pollux, who wrote 100 years later than 
Pliny : — 

* Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xix. c. 1. (Delph. Ed. c. 2.) 



328 THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 

There are also Byssina ; and Byssus, a kind of flax. But among the Indians, 
and now also among the Egyptians, a sort of wool is obtained from a tree. The 
cloth made from this wool may be compared to linen, except that it is thicker. 
The tree produces a fruit most nearly resembling a walnut, but three-cleft. 
After the outer covering, which is like a walnut, has divided and become dry, the 
substance resembling wool is extracted and is used in the manufacture of cloth 
for woof, the warp being linen. 

The description here given of the Cotton Tree or Cotton 
Plant, whichever was meant, is remarkably correct ; indeed 
more correct than any account obtained since the time of the 
expedition of Alexander. The circumstance of the pericarp 
being three-cleft is agreeable to the fact, and is not noticed by 
any earlier writer. The comparison of it to a walnut in re- 
gard to size and form is also accurate. From this account, and 
from those of Theophrastus, Aristobulus, and Nearchus, we 
gather the following particulars, which are agreeable to the 
fact : that the cotton-plants are set in the plains, and in rows 
like vines; that the plant is three or four feet high, and is 
branched, spreading, and flexible, like a dog-rose ; that the leaf 
is palmated like that of the vine ; that the capsule is three- 
valved, about the size of a walnut, and, when it bursts, emits the 
cotton, resembling flocks of wool, in which the seeds are imbedded. 

On the other hand, we have had no previous evidence re- 
specting the use of cotton in the manufacture of cloth for the 
woof only, and it is doubtful whether this piece of information 
is correct, because we have no reason to suppose that cotton 
was used for weaving in any country in which flax was also 
spun and woven. 

Tertullian in the third Chapter of his treatise De Pallio, 
enumerates nearly all the raw materials which were spun for 
weaving. He mentions the class of vegetable substances (cot- 
ton and flax) in the following terms : 

Et arbusta vestiunt, et lini herbida post virorem Iavacro nivescunt. 

Both thickets supply clothing ; and crops of flax, after being green, are ren- 
dered by washing white as snow. 

Philostratus, who wrote in the third century, makes distinct 
mention of cotton in two passages*. 

* Vita Appollonii, I. ii. cap. 20. Ibid. I. iii. cap. 15. 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 329 

Martianus Capella (I. ii. § 4. p. 99. ed. Goetz.) makes dis- 
tinct reference to a tunic and shawl white as milk, and made 
either of cotton or fine linen. 

Theophilus Presbyter, who wrote probably about A. D. 800, 
describes the use of cotton-paper for making gold-leaf. He 
calls it " Greek parchment, made of tree-wool, Pergamena, or 
Parcamena Gr&ca, qua jit ex land ligni*. 

From the travels of the two Arabians who visited China in 
the ninth century, we learn that at that time the ordinary dress 
of their countrymen was cotton : for they remark, that " the 
Chinese dressed, not in cotton, as the Arabians did, but in 
silkf." Probably the use of imported cotton might by this time 
have become not uncommon in Egypt, Syria, and other oriental 
countries ; but we apprehend, that it was never generally em- 
ployed in Europe either for clothing, or for any other purpose, 
until very lately. 

It is unnecessary to further discuss the question as to wheth- 
er cotton was or was not cultivated in Egypt in ancient times. 
This vexed question having been lately set at rest, by a discov- 
ery which reduces a great deal of the learning that has been 
expended upon it to the character of old lumber. The diffi- 
culty of ascertaining whether the mummy-cloths (of which the 
specimens are exceedingly numerous) were made of linen or 
cotton, has at length been overcome ; and though no chemical 
test could be found out to settle the question, it has been deci- 
ded by that important aid to scientific scrutiny, the microscope. 
(See Chapters I. and II. Part IY.) 

The following observations of Dr. Robertson in his " Histor- 
ical Disquisition concerning the knowledge which the Ancients 
had of India*," appear very just and important. 

If the use of the cotton manufactures of India had been common among the 
Romans, the various kinds of them would have been enumerated in the Law De 
Publicanis et Vectigalibus, in the same manner as the different kinds of spices and 

* De Omni Scientia Picturae Artis, c. 21. quoted in Lessing's Schriften, vol. iv. 
p. 63. ed. 1825, 12mo., and in Wehr's vom Papier, p. 132. (See Appendix B ) 

+ See the Travels as published by Renaudot, and translated from his French 
into English. 

i Note xxv. p. 370. Second ed. 1794. 

42 



330 THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 

precbus stones. Such a specification would have been equally necessary for the 
direction both of the merchant and of the tax-gatherer. 

In confirmation of these remarks it may be observed, that the 
passages collected in this chapter represent cotton cloth as an 
expensive and curious production rather than as an article of 
common use among the Greeks and Romans. Among the an- 
cients linen must have been far cheaper than cotton, whereas 
the improvements in navigation, the discovery of the passage 
to India by the Cape of Good Hope, and still more the discovery 
of America, have now made cotton the cheaper article among 
us, and have thus brought it into general use. 

India produces several varieties of cotton, both of the herba- 
ceous and the tree kinds. Marco Polo mentions that " cotton 
is produced in Guzerat in large quantities from a tree that is 
about six yards in height, and bears during twenty years ; but 
the cotton taken from trees of this age is not adapted for spin- 
ning, but only quilting. Such, on the contrary, as is taken 
from trees of twelve years old, is suitable for muslins and other 
manufactures of extraordinary fineness*." Sir John Mande- 
ville, on the other hand, who travelled in the fourteenth centu- 
ry, fifty years later than Polo, mentions the annual herbaceous 
cotton as cultivated in India : he says — " In many places the 
seed of the cotton, (cothon,) which we call tree-wool, is sown 
every year, and there springs up from its copses of low shrubs, 
on which this wool growst." Forbes also, in his Oriental Me- 
moirs, thus describes the herbaceous cotton of Guzerat : — " The 
cotton shrub, which grows to the height of three or four feet, 
and in verdure resembles the currant bush, requires a longer 
time than rice (which grows up and is reaped in three months) 
to bring its delicate produce to perfection. The shrubs are 
planted between the rows of rice, but do not impede its growth, 
or prevent its being reaped. Soon after the rice harvest is over, 
the cotton bushes put forth a beautiful yellow flower, with a 
crimson eye in each petal ; this is succeeded by a green pod, 
filled with a white stringy pulp ; the pod turns brown and 
hard as it ripens, and then separates into two or three divisions 

* Book iii. chap. 29. t Hakluyt's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 169. 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 331 

containing the cotton. A luxuriant field, exhibiting at the 
same time the expanding blossom, the bursting capsule, and 
the snowy flakes of ripe cotton, is one of the most beautiful ob- 
jects in the agriculture of Hindostan*." 

The following general statement concerning the cotton of 
India, is from the geographical work of Malte Brun : — " The 
cotton-tree grows on all the Indian mountains, but its produce 
is coarse in quality : the herbaceous cotton prospers chiefly in 
Bengal and on the Coromandel coast, and there the best cotton 
goods are manufactured. Next to these two provinces, Madure, 
Marawar, Pescaria, and the coast of Malabar, produce the finest 
cottonf." He elsewhere says—" Cotton is cultivated in every 
part of India : the finest grows in the light rocky soil of Guze- 
rat, Bengal, Oude, and Agra. The cultivation of this plant is 
very lucrative, an acre producing about nine quintals of cotton 
in the yearj." 

On the discovery of this continent by Columbus, Cotton 
formed the principal article of clothing among the Mexicans. 

We are informed by the Abbe Clavigero that " of cotton the 
Mexicans made large ivebs, and as delicate and fine as those 
of Holland, which were, with much reason, highly esteemed in 
Europe. They wove their cloths of different figures and 
colors, representing different animals and flowers. Of feath- 
ers interwoven with cotton, they made mantles and bed-cur- 
tains, carpets, gowns, and other things, not less soft than 
beautiful. With cotton also they interwove the finest hair of 
the belly of rabbits and hares, after having spun it into 
thread : of this they made most beautiful cloths, and in par- 
ticular winter waistcoats for their lordsi" Among the pres- 
ents sent by Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, to Charles V., 
were " cotton mantles, some all white, others mixed with white 
and black, or red, green, yellow, and blue ; waistcoats, handker- 
chiefs, counterpanes, tapestries, and carpets of cotton ; and the 

* Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 405. 

t Malte Brun, vol. iii. p. 30. % Ibid. vol. iii. p. 303. 

§ Clavigero's History of Mexico, book vii. sect. 57, 66. 



332 THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 

colors of the cotton were extremely fine*." That the Mexicans 
should have understood the art of dyeing those beautiful colors 
referred to in the above extract, is not to be wondered at when 
we consider that they had both indigo and cochineal among 
their native productions. 

Columbus also found the cotton plant growing wild, and in 
great abundance, in Hispaniola, and other West India islands, 
and on the continent of South America, where the inhabitants 
wore cotton dresses, and made their fishing nets of the same 
materialf ; and when Magellan went on his circumnavigation 
of the globe, in 1519, the Brazilians were accustomed to make 
their beds of this vegetable downf. 

* Clavigero's History of Mexico, book vii. sect. 58. 

t Sommario dell' Indie Occidentali del S. Don Pietro Martire, in Ramusio's 
Collection, torn. ii. pp. 2, 4, 16, 50. (See Appendix D.) 

X Vincentino's Viaggio atorno il Mondo, (with Ferd. Magellan,) in Ramusio, 
torn. i. p. 353. 



CHAPTER II. 

SPINNING AND WEAVING— MARVELLOUS SKILL 
DISPLAYED IN THESE ARTS. 

Unrivalled excellence of India muslins — Testimony of the two Arabian travellers 
— Marco Polo, and Odoardo Barbosa's accounts of the beautiful Cotton tex- 
tures of Bengal — Csesar Frederick, Tavernier, and Forbes's testimony — Extra- 
ordinary fineness and transparency of Dacca muslins — Specimen brought by Sir 
Charles Wilkins ; compared with English muslins — Sir Joseph Banks's experi- 
ments — Extraordinary fineness of Cotton yarn spun by machinery in England — 
Fineness of India Cotton yarn — Cotton textures of Soonergong — Testimony of 
R. Fitch — Hamilton's account — Decline of the manufactures of Dacca ac- 
counted for — Orme's testimony of the universal diffusion of the Cotton manu- 
facture in India — Processes of the manufacture — Rude implements — Roller gin 
— Bowing. (Eli Whitney inventor of the Cotton gin — Tribute of respect paid 
to his memory — Immense value of Mr. Whitney's invention to growers and man- 
ufacturers of Cotton throughout the world.) Spinning wheel — Spinning without 
a wheel — Loom — Mode of weaving — Forbes's description — Habits and remuner- 
ation of Spinners, Weavers, &c. — Factories of the East India Company — Mar- 
vellous skill of the Indian workman accounted for — Mills's testimony — Principal 
Cotton fabrics of India, and where made — Indian commerce in Cotton goods — 
Alarm created in the woollen and silk manufacturing districts of Great Britain 
— Extracts from publications of the day — Testimony of Daniel De Foe (Au- 
thor of Robinson Crusoe.) — Indian fabrics prohibited in England, and most 
other countries of Europe — Petition from Calcutta merchants — Present con- 
dition of the City of Dacca — Mode of spinning fine yarns — Tables showing 
the comparative prices of Dacca and British manufactured goods of the same 
quality. 

The antiquity of the cotton manufacture in India having 
been noticed in the last chapter, the present one will give some 
account of the remarkable excellence of the Indian fabrics, — 
the processes and machines by which they are wrought, — the 
condition of the population engaged in this department of in- 
dustry,- the extensive commerce formerly carried on in these 
productions to every quarter of the globe, and the causes that 
have tended to destroy it. 

The Indians have in all ages maintained an unapproached 



334 ANCIENT HISTORY OF 

and almost incredible perfection in their fabrics of cotton. In- 
deed some of their muslins might be thought the work of 
fairies or insects, rather than of men ; but these are produced in 
small quantities, and have seldom been exported. In the same 
province from which the ancient Greeks obtained the finest 
muslins then known, namely, the province of Bengal, these 
astonishing fabrics are manufactured to the present day*. 

We learn from two Arabian travellers of the ninth century, 
that " in this country (India) they make garments of such ex- 
traordinary perfection, that nowhere else are the like to be seen. 
These garments are for the most part round, and wove to that 
degree of fineness that they may be drawn through a ring of 
moderate sizet." Marco Polo, .in the thirteenth century, men- 
tions the coast of Coromandel, and especially Masulipatam, as 
producing " the finest and most beautiful cottons that are to be 
found in any part of the world* ;" and this is still the case as to 
the flowered and glazed cottons, called chintzes, though the 
muslins of the Coromandel coast are inferior to those of Bengal. 

Odoardo Barbosa, one of the Portuguese adventurers who 
visited India immediately after the discovery of the passage by 
the Cape of Good Hope, celebrates " the great quantities of cot- 
ton cloths admirably painted, also some white and some striped, 
held in the highest estimation," which were made in Bengali 
Ceesar Frederick, a Venetian merchant, who travelled in India 
in 1563, and whose narrative is translated by Hakluyt, de- 
scribes the extensive traffic carried on between St. Thome (a port 
150 miles from Negapatam) and Pegu, in " bumbast (cotton) 
cloth of every sort, painted, which is a rare thing, because this 
kind of cloths show as if they were gilded Avith divers colors, 
and the more they are washed, the livelier the colors will be- 
come ; and there is made such account of this kind of cloth, 
that a small bale of it will cost 1000 or 2000 ducats II ." 

* Bains's " History of the Cotton Manufacture," p. 55. 

t Anciennes "Relations des Indes et de la Chine, de duex Voyageurs Mahome- 
tans, qui y allerent dans le neuvieme siecle, p. 21. 
X Travels of Marco Polo, book iii. c. 21, 28. 

§ Ramusio's " Raccolto delle Navigationi et Viaggi," torn. i. p. 315. 
H Hakluyt's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 366. Edition of 1809. 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 335 

Tavernier,, who, like Marco Polo, Barbosa, and Frederick, 
was a merchant as well as a traveller, and therefore accustomed 
to judge of the qualities of goods, and who travelled in the mid- 
dle of the seventeenth century, says — "The white calicuts," 
(calicoes, or rather muslins, so called from the great commercial 
city of Calicut, whence the Portuguese and Dutch first brought 
them) " are woven in several places in Bengal and Mogulistan, 
and are carried to Raioxsary and Baroche* to be whitened, be- 
cause of the large meadows and plenty of lemons that grow 
thereabouts, for they are never so white as they should be till 
they are dipped in lemon-water. Some calicuts are made so 
fine, you can hardly feel them in your hand, and the thread, 
when spun, is scarce disceniiblet," The same writer says, 
" There is made at Seconge (in the province of Malwa) a sort 
of calicut so fine that when a man puts it on, his skin shall 
appear as plainly through it, as if he ivas quite naked ; but 
the merchants are not permitted to transport it, for the governor 
is obliged to send it all to the Great Mogul's seraglio and the 
principal lords of the court, to make the sultanesses and noble- 
men's wives shifts and garments for the hot weather ; and the 
. king and the lords take great pleasure to behold them in these 
shifts, and see them dance with nothing else upon themt." 
Speaking of the turbans of the Mohammedan Indians, Taver- 
nier says, " The rich have them of so fine cloth, that twenty- 

* " At the town of Baroche, in Guzerat, Forbes describes the manufacture as 
being now in nearly the same state as when Arrian's Periplus was written (about 
A. D. 100.). He says — " The cotton trade at Baroche is very considerable, and 
the manufactures of this valuable plant, from the finest muslin to the coarsest 
sail-cloth, employ thousands of men, women, and children, in the metropolis 
and the adjacent villages. The cotton clearers and spinners generally reside in 
the suburbs, or poorahs, of Baroche, which are very extensive. The weavers' 
houses are mostly near the shade of tamarind and mango trees, imder which, at 
sun-rise, they fix their looms, and weave a variety of cotton cloth, with very fine 
baftas and muslins (See Plate V.). Surat is more famous for its colored chintzes 
and piece goods. The Baroche muslins are inferior to those of Bengal and Madras, 
nor do the painted chintzes of Guzerat equal those of the Coromandel coast." — 
Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 222. 

t Tavernier's Travels, contained in Dr. Harris's Collection of Voyages and 
Travels, vol. i. p. 811. 

t Ibid. vol. i. p. 829. 



336 ANCIENT HISTORY OP 

five or thirty ells of it put into a turban will not weigh four 
ounces*." 

An English writer, at the end of the seventeenth century, in 
a remonstrance against the admission of India muslins, for 
which, he says, the high price of thirty shillings a yard was 
paid, unintentionally compliments the delicacy of the fabric by 
stigmatizing it as " only the shadow of a commodity!." 

The late Rev. William Ward, a missionary at Serampore, 
informs us that " at Shantee-pooru and Dhaka, muslins are 
made which sell at a hundred rupees a piece. The ingenuity 
of the Hindoos in this branch of manufacture is wonderful. 
Persons with whom I have conversed on this subject say, that 
at two places in Bengal, Sonar-ga and Yilkrum-pooru, muslins 
are made by a few families so exceedingly fine, that four 
months are required to weave one piece, which sells at five hun- 
dred rupees. When this muslin is laid on the grass, and the 
dew has fallen upon it, it is no longer discernible\." 

After such statements as the above, from sober and creditable 
witnesses, the Oriental hyperbole which designates the Dacca 
muslins as " webs of woven wind" seems only moderately po- 
etical. 

Sir Charles Wilkins brought a specimen of Dacca muslin 
from India in the year 1786, which was presented to him by 
the principal of the East India Company's factory at Dacca, as 
the finest then made there. Like all Indian muslins, it has a 
yellowish hue, caused by imperfect bleaching. Though the 
worse for many years' exposure in a glass case, and the hand- 
ling of visiters, it is of exquisite delicacy, softness, and trans- 
parency ; yet the yarn of which it is woven, and of which Mr. 
Wilkins also brought a specimen, is not so fine as some which 
has been spun by machinery in England. The following 
minute, made by Sir Joseph Banks on a portion of this yarn, 
thirty or forty years since, appears at the India House in his 
own writing, together with a specimen of the muslin : — 



* Tavernier's Travels, Harris's Collection, vol. i. p. 833. 
t The Naked Truth, in an Essay upon Trade, p. 11. 

X View of the History, Literature, and Mythology of the Hindoos, by William 
Ward; vol.4tkp. 127. 3d edition. 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 337 

" The portion of skein which Mr. Wilkins gave to me 
weighed 34-^ grains : its length was 5 yards 7 inches, and it 
consisted of 196 threads. Consequently, its whole length was 
1018 yards and 7 inches. This, with a small allowance for 
fractions, gives 29 yards to a grain, 203,000 to a pound avoir- 
dupoise of 7000 grains ; that is, 115 miles, 2 furlongs, and 60 
yards." 

Cotton yarn has been spun in England, making three hun- 
dred and fifty hanks to the lb. weight, each hank measuring 
840 yards, and the whole forming a thread of 167 miles in 
length*. This, however, must be regarded merely as showing 
how fine the cotton can possibly be spun by machinery, since 
no such yarn is or could be used in the making of muslins, or 
for any other purpose. The extreme of fineness to which 
yarns for muslins are ever spun in Great Britain is 250 hanks 
to the lb., which would form a thread measuring 119^ miles; 
but it is very rarely indeed that finer yarn is used than 220 
hanks to the lb., which is less fine than the specimen of Dacca 
muslin above mentioned. The Indian hand-spun yarn is soft- 
er than mule-yarn, and the muslins made of the former are 
much more durable than those made of the latter. In point 
of appearance, however, the book-muslin of Glasgow is very 
superior to the Indian muslin, not only because it is better 
bleached, but because it is more evenly woven, and from yarn 
of uniform thickness, whereas the threads in the Indian fabric 
vary considerably. 

It is probable that the specimens brought by Wilkins, though 
the finest then made at the city of Dacca, is not equal to the 
most delicate muslins made in that neighborhood in former 
times, or even in the present. The place called by the Rev. 
Mr. Ward Sonar-ga, and, by Mr. Walter Hamilton, Sooner- 
gong, a decayed city near Dacca, has been said to be unrivalled 
in its muslins. Mr. Ward's testimony has been quoted above. 

* Pliny, in speaking of linen yarn, gives us an account (L. xix. cap. 2.) of the 
cuirass of the Egyptian king Amasis, which is preserved in the temple of Minerva 
in Rhodes. " Each thread," says he, " is shown to consist of 365 fibres, which 
fact Mucianus, being a third time Consul, lately asserted at Rome." — Mucianus 
was Consul the third time A. D. 75. 

43 



338 ANCIENT HISTORY OF 

Mr. Ralph Fitch, an English traveller, in 1583, spoke of the 
same place when he said — u . Sinnergan is a town six leagues 
from Serrapore, where there is the best and finest cloth made of 
cotton that is in all India*." Mr. Hamilton says — " Soonergong 
is now dwindled down to an inconsiderable village. By Abul 
Fazel, in 1582, it is celebrated for the manufacture of a beau- 
tiful cloth, named cassas (cossaes,) and the fabrics it still pro- 
duces justify to the present generation its ancient renownt". 
But it seems that there has been a great decline in the man- 
ufacture of the finest muslins, which is both stated and ac- 
counted for by Mr. Hamilton in the following passage on the 
district of Dacca Jelulpoor : — 

" Plain muslins, are distinguished by different names, accord- 
ing to the fineness or closeness of the texture, as well as flower- 
ed, striped, or chequered muslins, are fabricated chiefly in this 
district, where a species of cotton named the banga grows, ne- 
cessary, although not of a very superior quality, to form the 
stripes of the finest muslins, for which the city of Dacca has 
been so long celebrated. The northern parts of Benares furnish 
both plain and flowered muslins, which are not ill adapted for 
common use, though incapable of sustaining any competition 
with the beautiful and inimitable fabrics of Dacca. 

" The export of the above staple articles has much decreased, 
and the art of manufacturing some of the finest species of mus- 
lins is in danger of being lost, the orders for them being so few 
that many of the families who possess by hereditary instruc- 
tion the art of fabricating them have desisted, on account of 
the difficulty they afterwards experience in disposing of them. 
This decline may partly be accounted for from the utter stag- 
nation of demand in the upper provinces since the downfall of 
the imperial government, prior to which these delicate and 
beautiful fabrics were in such estimation, not only at the court 
of Delhi, but among all classes of the high nobility in India, as 
to render it difficult to supply the demand. Among more re- 



* Hakluyt's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 390 ; edit. 1809. 

t A Geographical, Statistical, and Historical Description of Hindostan, by Wal- 
ter Hamilton, Esq. vol. i. p. 187— (1820.) 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 339 

cent causes also may be adduced the French revolution, the de- 
gree of perfection to which this peculiar manufacture has late- 
ly been brought in Great Britain, the great diminution in the 
Company's investment, and the advance in the price of cotton." 

With respect to the peculiar species of cotton of which the 
Dacca muslins are made, the following statement was given to 
a committee of the House of Commons, in 1830-31, by Mr. 
John Crawfurd, for many years in the service of the East India 
Company, and author of the "History of the Indian Archipelago :" 

" There is a fine variety of cotton in the neighborhood of 
Dacca, from which I have reason to believe the fine muslins of 
Dacca are produced, and probably to the accidental discovery 
of it is to be attributed the rise of this singular manufacture ; 
it is cultivated by the natives alone, not at all known in the 
English market, nor, as far as I am aware, in that of Calcutta. 
Its growth extends about forty miles along the banks of the 
Megna, and about three miles inland. I consulted Mr. Cole- 
brook respecting the Dacca cotton, and had an opportunity of 
perusing the manuscripts of the late Dr. Roxburgh, which con- 
tain an account of it ; he calls it a variety of the common herba- 
ceous annual cotton of India, and states that it is longer in the 
staple, and affords the material from which the Dacca muslins 
have been always made." 

The cotton manufacture in India is not carried on in a few 
large towns, or in one or two districts ; it is universal. The 
growth of cotton is nearly as general as the growth of food ; 
everywhere the women spend a portion of their time in spin- 
ning ; and almost every village contains its weavers, and sup- 
plies its own inhabitants with the scanty clothing they require*. 
Being a domestic manufacture, and carried on with the rudest 
and cheapest apparatus, it requires neither capital, mills, or an 

* Orme, in his Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire, says, " On the 
coast of Coromandel and in the province of Bengal, when at some distance from 
the high road or a principal town, it is difficult to find a village in which every 
man, woman, and child is not employed in making a piece of cloth. At present, 
much the greatest part of the whole provinces are employed in this single manufac- 
ture." (p. 409.) " The progress of the cotton manufacture includes no less than 
a description of the lives of half the inhabitants of Indostan." (p. 413.) 



340 ANCIENT HISTORY OF 

assemblage of various trades. The cotton is separated from 
the seeds by a small rude hand-mill, or gin, turned by women. 
The mill consists of two rollers of teak wood, fluted longitudi- 
nally with five or six grooves, and revolving nearly in contact. 
The upper roller is turned by a handle, the lower being carried 
along with it by means of a perpetual screw at the axis. The 
cotton is put in at one side, and drawn through by the revolv- 
ing rollers ; but the seeds, being too large to pass through the 
opening, are torn off and fall down on the opposite side from 
the cotton*. 

* To the efforts of Eli Whitney, America is indebted for the value of her great 
staple. While the invention of the cotton gin has been the chief source of the 
prosperity of the Southern planter, the Northern manufacturer comes in for a 
large share of the benefits derived from this most important offspring of American 
ingenuity. 

Eli Whitney, who may with justice be considered one of the most ingenious 
and extraordinary men that ever lived, was born in Westborough, Worcester 
County, Massachusetts, December 8th, 1765. His parents belonged to that re- 
spectable class in society, who, by the labors of husbandry, manage, by uniform 
industry, to provide well for a rising family, — a class from whom have risen most 
of those who, in New England, have attained to high eminence and usefulness. 

Although Mr. Whitney's machines have benefited the people of this country, 
and the world at large, millions upon millions, yet, it is to be lamented that he 
did not reap that reward which his ingenuity and industry, as well as virtuous 
course of conduct so richly merited, but died much involved in debt, while thou- 
sands who had conspired to defraud him of his just and lawful rights, were en- 
riched by the use of his machines. 

" If we should assert," said Judge William Johnson, " that the benefits of this 
invention (the Cotton gin) exceed $100,000,000, we can prove the assertion by 
correct calculation." 

Who is there that, like him, has given his country and the world a machine — 
the product of his own skill — which has furnished a large part of its population, 
from childhood to age, with a lucrative employment ; by which their debts have 
been paid off; their capitals increased ; their lands trebled in value? 

Mr. Whitney died on the 8th of January 1825, and is buried in the cemetery 
of New Haven, Connecticut. His tomb is after the model of Scipio's at Rome. 
It is simple and beautiful, and promises to endure for years. It bears the follow- 
ing inscription. 

ELI WHITNEY. 

THE INVENTOR OF THE COTTON GIN. 

OF USEFUL SCIENCE AND ARTS, THE EFFICIENT PATRON AND IMPROVER. 

IN THE SOCIAL RELATIONS OF LIFE, A MODEL OF EXCELLENCE. 

WHILE PRIVATE AFFECTION WEEPS AT HIS TOMB, HIS COUNTRY HONORS HIS MEMORY* 

BORN DECEMBER 8TH, 1765. DIED JAN. 8TH, 1825. 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 341 

The next operation is that of bowing the cotton, to clear it 
from dirt and knots. A large bow, made elastic by a complica- 
tion of strings, is used ; this being put in contact with a heap 
of cotton, the workman strikes the string with a heavy wooden 
mallet, and its vibrations open the knots of the cotton, shake 
from it the dust and dirt, and raise it to a downy fleece. The 
hand-mill and bow have been used immemorially throughout 
all the countries of Asia, and have their appropriate names in 
the Arabic and other languages : they were formerly used in 
America, whence the term, still applied in commerce, " bowed 
Georgia cotton" The hatters of Great Britain still raise their 
wool by the bow. The cotton being thus prepared, without 
any carding, it is spun by the women ; the coarse yarn is spun 
on a one-thread wheel, and very much resembling those used 
at the present day by the peasantry in the west of Ireland. 

The finer yarn is spun with a metallic spindle, and some- 
times without a distaff; a bit of clay is attached as a weight to 
one end of the spindle, which is turned round with the left 
hand, whilst the cotton is supplied with the right ; the thread is 
wound upon a small piece of wood. The spinster keeps her 



The convention of American Geologists and Naturalists who met at New Ha- 
ven in May last (1845.), were invited, together with their ladies, by Mrs. Whit- 
ney, the widow of the inventor of the Cotton gin, to attend an evening party at 
her house, which was accepted, where they had an elegant supper and conver- 
sazione. 

" It is melancholy," says Mr. Bains in his History of the Cotton Manufacture, 
p. 114, "to contrast with the sanguine eagerness of inventors, the slowness of 
mankind to acknowledge and reward their merits, — to observe how, on many oc- 
casions, genius, instead of realizing fame and fortune, has been pursued by disas- 
ter and opposition, — how trifling difficulties have frustrated the success of splendid 
discoveries, — and how those discoveries, snatched from the grasp of their broken- 
hearted authors, have brought princely fortunes to men whose only talent was hi 
making money. ' When inventors fail in their projects, no one pities them ; when 
they succeed, persecution, envy, and jealousy are their reward. Their means 
are generally exhausted before their discoveries become productive. They plant 
a vineyard, and either starve, or are driven from their inheritance, before they can 
gather the fruit." 

Would it not be greatly to the credit of the cotton manufacturing interest in 
this country and in Europe, to present Mrs. Whitney with some token of their 
respect and veneration for the memory of the inventor of the Cotton gin ? 



342 ANCIENT HISTORY OF 

fingers dry by the use of a chalky powder. (See Part First, 
Chapter I, pp. 17 and 18.) 

The yarn, having been reeled and warped in the simplest 
possible manner, is given to the weaver whose loom is as rude 
a piece of apparatus as can be imagined. It consists merely of 
two bamboo rollers, one for the warp and the other for the web, 
and a pair of headles. The shuttle performs the double office of 
shuttle and lay, and for this purpose is made like a large net- 
ting needle, and of a length rather more than the breadth of the 
web*. This apparatus the weaver carries to a tree, under 
which he digs a hole (which may be called the treadle-hole) 
large enough to contain his legs and the lower tackle. He then 
stretches his warp by fastening his bamboo rollers at a proper 
distance from each other by means of wooden pins. The 
headle-jacks he fastens to some convenient branch of the tree 
over his head (See Plate V.) : two loops underneath, in which 
he inserts his great toes, serve instead of treadles ; and his 
long shuttle, which also performs the office of lay, draws the 
weft through the warp, and afterwards strikes it home to the 
fell. " There is not so much as an expedient for rolling up the 
warp : it is stretched out to the full length of the web, which 
makes the house of the weaver insufficient to contain him. 
He is therefore obliged to work continually in the open air ; and 
every return of inclement weather interrupts himf." 

Forbes describes the weavers in Guzerat, near Baroche, as 
fixing their looms at sun-rise under the shade of tamarind and 
mango trees. In some parts of India, however, as on the 
banks of the Ganges, the weavers work under the cover of their 
sheds, fixing the geer of their looms to a bamboo in the roof 
(See Plate V.). They size their warps with a starch made 



* The shuttle is not always of this length. Hoole, in his " Mission to India," 
represents it as requiring to be thrown, in which case it must be short ; and a 
drawing of a Candyan weaver, in the Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion 
of Useful Knowledge, shows the shuttle of the same size as our modern shawl 
shuttle. Indeed we have abundant evidence that the Indians employed shuttles 
of this latter description from time immemorial. The Chinese also use shuttles 
of the same description. (See Chinese loom, Plate I.) 

t Mill's History of British India, book ii. ch. 8. 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 343 

from the root called kandri. When chequered muslins are 
wrought, three persons are employed at each loom. 

Some authentic particulars concerning the habits and remu- 
neration of the Hindoos engaged in the making of cotton cloth, 
are contained in an unpublished account of the districts of 
Puraniya (Purneah,) Patna, and Dinajpur, by Dr. Francis 
Hamilton, better known as Dr. F. Buchanan, (he having taken 
the name of Hamilton,) the author of the " Journey from Ma- 
dras to Mysore, Canara, and Malabar." This account of the 
above-named provinces near the Ganges is in several manu- 
script volumes in the library of the India House, in London. 
We learn from his elaborate survey that the spinning and 
weaving of cotton prevails throughout these provinces. The 
fine yarns are spun with an iron spindle, and without distaff, 
generally by women of rank ; no caste is disgraced here by 
spinning, as in the south of India ; the women do not employ 
all their tune at this work, but only so much as is allowed by 
their domestic occupations. The coarse yarns are spun on a 
small wheel turned by the hand. The hand-mill is used to 
free the cotton from its seeds, and the bow to tease it. The 
following capital is required for the weaver's business : a loom, 
2i rupees • sticks for warping and a wheel for winding, 2 anas ; 
a shop, 4 rupees ; thread for two ready money pieces, worth 6 
rupees each, 5 rupees ;— total 11 rupees 10 anas ; to which 
must be added a month's subsistence. The man and his wife 
warp, wind, and weave two pieces of this kind in a month, and 
he has 7 rupees (14 shillings stg.) profit, deducting, however, 
the tear and wear of his apparatus, which is a trifle. A person 
hired to weave can in a month make three pieces of this kind, 
and is allowed 2 anas in the rupee of their value, which is 2f 
rupees (4s. 6d.) a month. The finest goods cost 2 rupees a 
piece for weaving. Dr. Hamilton, in his observations on an- 
other district, states the average profit of a loom engaged in 
weaving coarse goods to be 28 rupees (£2. 16s.) a year, oi 
something less than 13c?. a week. At Puraniya and Dinajpur 
the journeymen cotton-weavers usually made from 2 to 2\ ru- 
pees (from 4s. to 5s.) a month. At Patna a man and his wife 
made from 3 to 4 rupees (from 6s. to 8s.) a month by beating 



344 ANCIENT HISTORY OF 

and cleaning cotton ; and each loom employed in making che- 
quered muslins, has a profit of 108J rupees a year (£10. 16s.), 
that is, Is. Ad. a week for each of the three persons who work 
the loom. The average earnings of a journeyman weaver, 
therefore, appear to be from Is. to Is. Ad. per week. At Ban- 
galore, and in some other parts of southern India, this author 
states that weavers earn from 3d. to 8c?. a day, according as 
they are employed on coarse or fine goods* ; but this is so much 
above the usual remuneration for labor in India, that, if the 
statement is not erroneous, it must be of extremely limited ap- 
plication. On the same authority, a woman spinning coarse 
yarn can earn lid. per dayt. 

A fact is mentioned by Dr. Hamilton, in his unpublished ac- 
count of Patna, which affords a striking indication as to the 
national character of the Hindoos — " All Indian weavers, who 
work for the common market, make the woof of one end of the 
cloth coarser than that of the other, and attempt to sell to the 
unwary by the fine end, although every one almost, who deals 
with them, is perfectly aware of the circumstance, and although 
in the course of his life any weaver may not ever have an op- 
portunity of gaining by this means, yet he continues the prac- 
tice, with the hope of being able at some time or other to take 
advantage of the purchaser of his goods." 

The East India Company has a factory at Dacca, and also 
in other parts of India, — not, as the American use of the word 
" factory" might seem to imply, a mill, for the manufacture is 
entirely domestic — but a commercial establishment in a manu- 
facturing district, where the spinners, weavers, and other work- 
men are chiefly employed in providing the goods which the 
Company export to Europe. This establishment is under the 
management of a commercial resident, who agrees for the 
kinds of goods that may be required, and superintends the ex- 
ecution of the orders received from the presidencies. Such is 
the poverty of the workmen, and even of the manufacturers 
who employ them, that the resident has to advance beforehand 

* Buchanan's Journey through Mysore, vol. i. pp. 216-218. 
t Ibid. vol. iii. p. 317. 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 345 

the funds necessary in order to produce the goods. The con- 
sequence of this system is, that the manufacturers and their 
men are in a state of dependence almost amounting to servi- 
tude. The resident obtains their labor at his own price, and, 
being supported by the civil and military power, he establishes 
a monopoly of the worst kind, and productive of the most preju- 
dicial effects to industry. The Act of 1833, which put an end 
to the commercial character of the Company, will of course 
abolish all the absurd and oppressive monopolies it exercised. 

It cannot but seem astonishing, that in a department of in- 
dustry, where the raw material has been so grossly neglected, 
where the machinery is so rude, and where there is so little 
division of labor, the results should be fabrics of the most exqui- 
site delicacy and beauty, unrivalled by the products of any 
other nation, even those best skilled in the mechanic arts. 
This anomaly is explained by the remarkably fine sense of 
touch possessed by that effeminate people, by their patience and 
gentleness, and by the hereditary continuance of a particular 
species of manufacture in families through many generations, 
which leads to the training of children from their very infancy 
in the processes of the art. Mr. Orme observes — " The women 
spin the thread destined for the cloth, and then deliver it to the 
men, who have fingers to model it as exquisitely as these have 
prepared it. The rigid, clumsy fingers of a European would 
scarcely be able to make a piece of canvass with the instru- 
ments which are all that an Indian employs in making a piece 
of cambric (muslin). It is further remarkable, that every dis- 
tinct kind of cloth is the production of a particular district, in 
which the fabric has been transmitted perhaps for centuries 
from father to son, — a custom which must have conduced to 
the perfection of the manufacture* ? The last mentioned 
fact may be considered as a kind of division of labor. 

Mr. Mill thus explains the unequalled manual skill of the In- 
dian weaver : — " It is a sedentary occupation, and thus in har- 
mony with his predominant inclination. It requires patience, 
of which he has an inexhaustible fund. It requires little 

* Ormes's Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire, p. 413. 



346 ANCIENT HISTORY OP 

bodily exertion, of which he is always exceedingly sparing; 
and the finer the production, the more slender the force which 
he is called upon to apply. But this is not all. The weak and 
delicate frame of the Hindu is accompanied with an acuteness 
of external sense, particularly of touch, which is altogether un- 
rivalled ; and the flexibility of his fingers is equally remarkable. 
The hand of the Hindu, therefore, constitutes an organ adapt- 
ed to the finest operations of the loom, in a degree which is al- 
most or altogether peculiar to himself*." 

It is, then, to a physical organization in the natives, admi- 
rably suited to the processes of spinning and weaving ; to the 
possession of the raw material in the greatest abundance ; to 
the possession also of the most brilliant dyes for staining and 
printing the cloth ; to a climate which renders the colors lively 
and durable ; and to the hereditary practice, by particular 
castes, classes, and families, both of the manual operations and 
chemical processes required in the manufacture ; — it is to these 
causes, with very little aid from science, and in an almost bar- 
barous state of the mechanical arts, that India owes her long 
supremacy in the manufacture of cotton. 

Bengal is celebrated for the production of the finest muslins ; 
the Coromandel coast, for the best chintzes and calicoes ; and 
Surat, for strong and inferior goods of every kind. The cottons 
of Bengal go under the names of casses, amdns, and garats; 
and the handkerchiefs are called Burgoses and Steinkirkes. 
Table cloths of superior quality are made at Patna. The 
basins, or basinets, come from the Northern Circars. Condaver 
furnishes the beautiful handkerchiefs of Masulipatam, the fine 
colors of which are partly obtained from a plant called chage, 
which grows on the banks of the Krishna, and on the coast of 
the Bay of Bengal. The chintzes and ginghams are chiefly 
made at Masulipatam, Madras, St. Thome, and Paliamcotta. 
The long cloths and fine pullicats are produced in the presi- 
dency of Madras. The coarse piece-goods, under the name of 
baftas, doutis, and pullicats, as well as common muslins and 
chintzes, are extensively manufactured in the district of which 

* Mill's History of British India, book ii. c. 8. 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 347 

Surat is the port. Besides all these, there is an endless variety 
of fabrics, many of which are known in the markets of Europe. 
Asia, and Africa. 

The commerce of the Indians in these fabrics has been ex- 
tensive, from the Christian era to the end of the last century. 
For many hundred years, Persia, Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Abys- 
sinia, and all the eastern parts of Africa, were supplied with a 
considerable portion of their cottons and muslins, and with all 
which they consumed of the finest qualities, from the marts of 
India. This commerce existed in the last age, and is described 
by the Abbe Raynal* and Legoux de Flaix. The blue calicoes 
of Guzerat were long bought by the English and Dutch for 
their trade with Guinea. The great marts of this commerce 
on the west coast of India were Surat and Calicut, the former 
of which is near to Baroche, the manufacturing capital of Gu- 
zerat, in which province a considerable part of the exported cot- 
tons of India were made ; and on the east coast, Masulipatam, 
Madras, and St. Thome, whence the varied and extensive 
products of the Coromandel coast are exported. 

Owing to the beauty and cheapness of Indian muslins, 
chintzes, and calicoes, there was a period when the manufac- 
turers of all the countries of Europe were apprehensive of be- 
ing ruined by their competition. In the seventeenth century, 
the Dutch and English East India Companies imported these 
goods in large quantities ; they became highly fashionable for 
ladies' and children's dresses, as well as for drapery and furni- 
ture, and the coarse calicoes were used to line garments. To 
such an extent did this proceed, that as early as 1678 a loud 
outcry was made in England against the admission of Indian 
goods, which, it was maintained, were ruining the woollen 
manufacture, — a branch of industry which for centuries was 
regarded with an almost superstitious veneration, as a kind of 
palladium of the national prosperity, and which was incompa- 
rably the most extensive branch of manufactures till the close 
of the eighteenth century. A few extracts from pamphlets 



* Histoire Philosophique et Politique des Etablissements du Commerce des Eu- 
ropeans dans les deux Indes, torn. ii. liv. iv. ch. 4. 



348 ANCIENT HISTORY OP 

published in the seventeenth and at the beginning of the 
eighteenth century, will not only afford amusement, but will 
show the wonderful commercial revolution which has since 
been effected by machinery. In the year 1678, a pamphlet 
was issued under the title — " The Ancient Trades Decayed 
and Repaired again," in which the author thus bewails the in- 
terference of cotton with woollen fabrics. 

" This trade (the woollen) is very much hindered by our own 
people, who do wear many foreign commodities instead of our 
own ; as may be instanced in many particulars ; viz. instead of 
green sey, that was wont to be used for children's frocks, is now 
used painted and Indian-stained and striped calico ; and instead 
of a perpetuana or shalloon to line men's coats with, is used 
sometimes a glazed calico, which in the whole is not above 12c?. 
cheaper, and abundantly worse. And sometimes is used a 
Bangale that is brought from India, both for linings to coats, 
and for petticoats too ; yet our English ware is better and 
cheaper than this, only it is thinner for the summer. To rem- 
edy this, it would be necessary to lay a very high impost upon 
all such commodities as these are, and that no calicoes or 
other sort of linen be suffered to be glazed." — pp. 16, 17. 

The writer, with equal wisdom, recommends the prohibition 
of stage coaches, on account of their injuring the proprietors of 
the inns on the road, by conveying the passengers too quickly, 
and at too little expense to themselves. A pamphlet entitled 
" The Naked Truth, in an Essay upon Trade," published in 
1696, informs us that — 

" The commodities that we chiefly receive from the East 
Indies are calicoes, muslins, Indian wrought silks, pepper, salt- 
petre, indigo, &c. The advantage of the Company is chiefly 
in their muslins and Indian silks, (a great value in these com- 
modities being comprehended in a small bulk,) and these be- 
coming the general wear in England." — p. 4. "Fashion is 
truly termed a witch ; the dearer and scarcer any commodity, 
the more the mode ; 30s. a yard for muslins, and only the 
shadow of a commodity when procured." — p. 11. 

So sagacious and far-sighted an author as Daniel de Foe 
(Author of Robinson Crusoe) did not escape the general notion, 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 349 

that it was not merely injurious to the woollen and silk manu- 
factures, but also a national evil, to have clothing cheap 

FROM ABROAD RATHER THAN TO MANUFACTURE IT DEAR 

at home. In his Weekly Review, which contains so many 
opinions on trade, credit, and currency far beyond the age. he 
thus laments the large importations of Indian goods. 

" The general fancy of the people runs upon East India goods 
to that degree, that the chintz and painted calicoes, which 
before were only made use of for carpets, quilts, &c., and to 
clothe children and ordinary people, become now the dress of 
our ladies ; and such is the power of a mode as we saw our 
persons of quality dressed in stuffs which but a few years before 
their chambermaids would have thought too ordinary for them : 
the chintz was advanced from lying upon their floors to their 
backs, from the foot-cloth to the petticoat ; and even the queen 
herself at this time was pleased to appear in China silks and 
calico. Nor was this all, but it crept into our houses, closets, 
and bed-chambers ; curtains, cushions, chairs, and at last beds 
themselves, were nothing but calicoes or Indian stuffs ; and in 
short, almost everything that used to be made of wool or silk, 
relating either to the dress of the women or the furniture of our 
houses, was supplied by the Indian trade." 

" Above half of the (woollen) manufacture was entirely lost, 
half of the people scattered and ruined, and all this by the 
intercourse of the East India trade." — Weekly Review, Janu- 
ary 31st, 1708. 

However exaggerated and absurd De Foe's estimate of the 
injury caused to the woollen manufacture, as manifested by the 
small value of the whole importations of Indian fabrics, at that 
time, as well as (much more decisively) by the experience of 
recent times, when the woollen manufacture has sustained the 
incomparably more formidable competition of the English cotton 
manufacture, it is evident from his testimony, and that of other 
writers, that Indian calicoes, muslins, and chintzes, had become 
common in England at the close of the seventeenth century. 
De Foe's complaint was not of an evil existing in 1708, when 
he w T rote, but of one a few years earlier ; for he says in another 
place, that the " prohibition of Indian goods" had " avert- 



350 ANCIENT HISTORY OP 

ED THE RUIN OF ENGLISH MANUFACTURES, AND REVIVED 

their prosperity." This prohibition took place by the Act 
11 and 12 William III. cap. 10., (1700,) which forbid the intro- 
duction of Indian silks and printed calicoes for domestic use, 
either as apparel or furniture, under a penalty of £200 on the 
wearer or seller, and as this Act did not prevent the continued 
use of the goods, which were probably smuggled from the con- 
tinent of Europe, other Acts for the same purpose were passed 
at a later date. 

A volume published in the year 1728, entitled "A Plan of 
the English Commerce," shows that the evil of a consumption 
of Indian manufactures still prevailed, and that it was ascribed 
to a cause for which the writer saw no remedy, namely, the will 
of the ladies, or, in his own words, their " passion for their 
fashion." The other countries of Europe are represented as 
equally suffering from Indian competition and female perverse- 
ness, and as attempting in the same way to find a remedy in 
legislative prohibition. Holland was an honorable exception. 
The author says — 

"The calicoes are sent from the Indies by land into Turkey, 
by land and inland seas into Muscovy and Tartary, and about 
by long-sea into Europe and America, till in general they are 
become a grievance, and almost all the European nations but 
the Dutch restrain and prohibit them." — p. 180. 

"Two things," says the writer, "among us are too un- 
governable, viz. our passions and our fashions. 

" Should I ask the ladies whether they would dress by law, 
or clothe by act of parliament, they would ask me whether 
they were to be statute fools, and to be made pageants and 
pictures of? — whether the sex was to be set up for our jest, and 
the parliament had nothing to do but make Indian queens of 
them ? — that they claim liberty as well as the men, and as they 
expect to do what they please, and say what they please, so 
they will wear what they please, and dress how they please. 

" It is true that the liberty of the ladies, their passion for 
their fashion, has been frequently injurious to the manufac- 
tures of Great Britain, and is so still in some cases ; but I do 
not see so easy a remedy for that, as for some other things of 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 351 

the like nature. The ladies have suffered some little restraint 
that way, as in the wearing East India silks, instead of Eng- 
lish ; and calicoes and other things instead of worsted stuffs 
and the like ; and we do not see they are pleased with it." — 
p. 253. 

It appears, then, that not more than a century ago, the cot- 
ton fabrics of India were so beautiful and cheap, that nearly all 
the governments of Europe thought it necessary to prohibit 
them, or to load them with heavy duties, in order to pro- 
tect their own manufactures. How surprising a rev- 
olution has since taken place ! The Indians have not lost 
their former skill ; but a power has arisen, which has robbed 
them of their ancient ascendancy. The following document 
furnishes superabundant proof how a manufacture which has 
existed without a rival for thousands of years, is withering un- 
der the competition of a power which is as it were but of yes- 
terday : it would be well if it did not also illustrate the very 
different measure of protection and justice which governments 
usually afford to their subjects at home, and to those of their 
remote dependencies. 

PETITION OF NATIVES OF BENGAL, RELATIVE TO DU 
TIES ON COTTON AND SILK. 

" Calcutta, 1st. Sept. 1831. 

" To the Right Honorable the Lords of His Majesty's 
Priviy Council for Trade, $*c. 

" The humble Petition of the undersigned Manufacturers 
and Dealers in Cotton and Silk Piece-goods, the fabrics of 
Bengal ; 

" Sheweth — That of late years your Petitioners have found 
their business nearly superseded by the introduction of the fab- 
rics of Great Britain into Bengal, the importation of which 
augments every year, to the great prejudice of the native man- 
ufactures. 

" That the fabrics of Great Britain are consumed in Bengal, 
without any duties being levied thereon to protect the native 
fabrics. 



352 ANCIENT HISTORY OF 

" That the fabrics of Bengal are charged with the following 
duties when they are used in Great Britain — 

" On manufactured cottons, 10 per cent. 
" On manufactured silks, 24 per cent. 

" Your Petitioners most humbly implore your Lordships' con- 
sideration of these circumstances, and they feel confident that 
no disposition exists in England to shut the door against the 
industry of any part of the inhabitants of this great empire. 

" They therefore pray to be admitted to the privilege of Brit- 
ish subjects, and humbly entreat your Lordships to allow the 
cotton and silk fabrics of Bengal to be used in Great Britain 
free of duty, or at the same rate which may be charged on 
British fabrics consumed in Bengal*. 

" Your Lordships must be aware of the immense advantages 
the British manufacturers derive from their skill in constructing 
and using machinery, which enables them to undersell the 
unscientific manufacturers of Bengal in their own country : and ; 
although your Petitioners are not sanguine in expecting to 
derive any great advantage from having their prayer granted, 
their minds would feel gratified by such a manifestation of your 
Lordships' good will towards them ; and such an instance of 
justice to the natives of India would not fail to endear the 
British government to them. 

" They therefore confidently trust, that your Lordships' 
righteous consideration will be extended to them as British 
subjects, without exception of sect, country, or color. 

" And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray." 
[Signed by 117 natives of high respectability.] 

Dacca, notwithstanding its present insignificance as com- 
pared with its former grandeur, may nevertheless still be classed 
among second rate cities. It has a population of 150,000 in- 
habitants, which is nearly a third more than the city of Balti- 



* This reasonable request was not complied with, the duty on India cotton be- 
ing still 10 per cent. The extra duty of 3hd. per yard on printed cottons was 
taken off when the excise duty on English prints was repealed, in 1831. Eng- 
lish cottons imported into India only pay a duty of 2£ per cent. 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 353 

more contains. Some new brick dwellings have silently sprung 
up here and there, it may also be observed, within the last few 
years ; and this city can now boast an Oil Mill driven by steam, 
and an Iron Suspension Bridge. Three more steam engines 
are in the course of erection*. On the whole, an increase may 
be looked for, rather than the contrary, in the wealth, population, 
and importance of the city of Dacca. 

It would be curious to compare the gradual decrease of the 
population, with the falling off of the manufacture of those 
beautiful cotton fabrics, for which this city was once without a 
rival in the worldf. The first falling off in the Dacca trade, 
took place so far back as 1801, previous to which the yearly 
advances made by the East India Company, and private traders, 
for Dacca muslins, were estimated at upwards of twenty-five 
lacs of rupees*. In 1807, the Company's investment had fallen 
to 595,900, and the private trade to about 560,200. In 1813, 
the private trade did not exceed 205,950, and that of the Com- 
pany was scarcely more considerable. And in 1817, the English 
commercial residency was altogether discontinued. The French 
and Dutch factories had been abandoned many years before. 
The division of labor was carried to a great extent in the manu- 
facture of fine muslins. In spinning the very fine thread, more 
especially, a great degree of skill was attained. It was spun 
with the fingers on a " Takwa? or fine steel spindle, by young 
women, who could only work during the early part of the 
morning, while the dew was on the ground ; for such was the 
extreme tenuity of the fibre, that it would not bear manipula- 
tion after the sun had risen. One retti of cotton could thus be 
spun into a thread eighty cubits long ; which was sold by the 
spinners at one rupee, eight annas, per sicca weight. The 
" Raffugars," or Darners, were also particularly skilful. They 
could remove an entire thread from a piece of muslin, and 



* Asiatic Researches, vol. xvii. 

t If Providence should continue to bless the work of our hands, and our life and 
health be preserved, we indulge the hope of being able, at no very distant period, 
to investigate this subject more fully. 

X Lac of rupees is one hundred thousand rupees, which at 55 cents each 
amount to fifty-five thousand dollars, or at 2s. 6d. sterling, to £12,500. 

45 



354 ANCIENT HISTORY OP 

replace it by one of a finer texture. The cotton used for the 
finest thread, was grown in the immediate neighborhood of 
Dacca, more especially about Sunergong. Its fibre is too short, 
however, to admit of its being worked up by any except that 
most wonderful of all machines — the human hand. The art 
of making the very fine muslin fabrics is now lost — and a pity 
it is that it should be so. 

In 1820, a resident of Dacca, on a special order received from 
China, procured the manufacture of two pieces of muslin, each 
ten yards long by one wide, and weighing ten and a half sicca 
rupees. — The price of each piece was 100 sicca rupees. In 
1822, the same individual received a second commission for two 
similar pieces, from the same quarter ; but the parties who had 
supplied him on the former occasion had died in the mean time, 
and he was unable to execute the commission. 

The annual investment, called the " Malbus Khas," for the 
royal wardrobe at Delhi, absorbed a great part of the finest fabrics 
in former times : the extreme beauty of some of these muslins, 
was sufficiently indicated by the names they bore : such as, 
" Abrowan" running water ; " Siebnem," evening dew, &c. 
The cotton manufacture has not yet arrived at anything like 
this perfection with us, and probably never will.* 

* The manufacture of fine muslin, was attempted both in Lancashire and at 
Glasgow, about the year 1780, with weft spun by the jenny. The attempt 
failed, owing to the coarseness of the yarn. Even with Indian weft, muslins 
could not be made to compete with those of the East. But when the mule was 
brought into general use, in 1785, both weft and warp were produced sufficiently 
fine for muslins ; and so quickly did the weaver avail himself of the improvement in 
the yarn, that no less than 500,000 pieces of muslin were manufactured in Great 
Britain in the year 1787. In a " Report of the Select Committee of the Court 
of Directors of the East India Company upon the subject of the Cotton Manu- 
facture of this Country," made in the year 1793, it is said, that " every shop of- 
fers British muslins for sale equal in appearance, and of more elegant patterns 
than those of India, for one-fourth, or perhaps more than one-third, less in 
price." " Muslin began to be made nearly at the same time at Bolton, at Glas- 
gow, and at Paisley, each place adopting the peculiar description of fabric which 
resembled most those goods it had been accustomed to manufacture ; and, in 
consequence of this judicious distribution at first, each place has continued to 
maintain a superiority in the production of its own article. Jaconets, both coarse 
and fine, but of a stout fabric, checked and striped muslins, and other articles of 
the heavier description of this branch, are manufactured in Bolton, and its neigh- 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 



355 



Coarse cotton piece goods still continue to be manufactured 
at Dacca, though from the extreme cheapness of English cloths, 
it is not improbable that the native manufacture will be alto- 
gether superseded ere long. 

In 1823-4, cotton piece goods, mostly coarse, passed the 
Dacca Custom House, to the value of 1,442,101. In 1829-30, 
the value of the same export was 969,952 only. There was a 
similar falling off in silk and embroidered goods during the 
same period. 

In the export of the articles of cotton yarn again, there has 
been an increase. In 1813, the value was 4,480 rupees only ; 
whereas in 1821-22, it amounted to 39,319 rupees. From 
that period it has, however, decreased; and in 1829-30, the 
value of the native cotton yarn exported from Dacca, amount- 
ed to 29,475 rupees only. 

Annexed are two statements — one showing the comparative 
prices of muslins now manufactured at Dacca, and of the same 
description of cloth, the produce of British looms. — The other, 
the comparative prices of Dacca cloths, manufactured from 
yarn spun in the country, and from British cotton yarn. 
These cannot fail to be interesting at the present moment, and 
their general accuracy may be relied on. 

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF THE PRICES OF MUSLINS MANUFACTURED 
AT DACCA, AND THE PRODUCE OF THE BRITISH LOOMS. 



ASSORTMENTS. 



Jamdani, with small spot, 1st sort 

" - " 2nd ditto 

Jamdani, Mabiposh, 

" Diagonal pattern, 

Jaconet Muslin, 40£, corresponding ) . 1st ditto 
with Jungle Cossas, .... $ . 2nd ditto 

Nyansook, 40 to 2-J, 

Cambric, corresponding with Camiz Cossas, . . . 

Jamdani blue or red sprigs, 

Jamdani Saris, 

Book Muslin, corresponding with Mulmulls, .... 

Sahun, 48 by 3, 



Manufac- 


Produce of 


tured at 


the British 


Dacca. 


Looms. 


25 


8 


16 


5 


27 to 28 


6 


12 to 13 


4 to 44 


38 to 40 


20 to 22 


24 to 25 


9 to 10 


8 to 9 


5 to 6 


13 to 14 


6 to 94 


15 to 16 


4 to 5 


12 to 13 


5 to 54. 


10 to 11 


7 to 8 


28 to 30 


14 to 15 



borhood. Book, mull, and leno muslins, and jaconets of a lighter fabric than those 
made in Lancashire, are manufactured in Glasgow. Sewed and tambored muslins 
are almost exclusively made there and in Paisley." — Encyclopedia Britannica. 



356 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF 



COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF THE PRICES OF DACCA CLOTHS, MANU- 
FACTURED WITH COTTON YARN SPUN IN THE COUNTRY, AND FROM 
BRITISH COTTON YARN. 



ASSORTMENTS. 



DACCA MUSLINS. 



Manufactured 
with Country 
Cotton Thread. 



Manufactu- 
red with Eu- 
rope Cotton 
Yarn. 



Mulmuls, 40 by 2, 1st sort 

2nd ditto 
3rd ditto 

Sablams, 40 by 2, 1st ditto 

2nd ditto 
3rd ditto 
4th ditto 
5th ditto 

Sarbans, 40 cubits, 1st ditto 

2nd ditto 

Allabalis Adi, 1st ditto 

2nd ditto 
3rd ditto 
4th ditto 

Tarindans, 40 cubits, 1st ditto 

2nd ditto 
3rd ditto 
4th ditto 

Sari, per pair, 1st ditto 

2nd ditto 
3rd ditto 

Dhotis, per pair, ....... 1st ditto 

2nd ditto 
3rd ditto 
4th ditto 
5th ditto 
6th ditto 

Sheraganj Cossas, 40 cubits, ... 1st ditto 

2nd ditto 
3rd ditto 
4th ditto 
5th ditto 

Sheraganj Hamam, 40 by 3, . . . 1st ditto 

2nd ditto 
3rd ditto 
4th ditto 
5th ditto . 
6th ditto 

Jamdan Dhotis, 10 cubits, ... 1st ditto 

2nd ditto 
3rd ditto 



8 to 9 

10 to 12 
14 to 15 

4 to 4i 
54 to 6 

11 to 12 
14 to 15 
17 to 18 

3 
3J to 3| 

5 to 5J 

7 to 74 

8 to 9 

9 to 10 
44 to 5 
64 to 7 
11 to 12 

13 to 14 

5 

5 to 54 
9 to 10 

5 

6 to 64 

7 to 74 

8 to 84 
10 104 to 11 

9 to 11 

4 

5 

54 to 6 

7 to 74 

8 to 8| 

5 

6 to 

74 to 

9 to 94 
11 to 12 

14 to 15 
54 to 6 
64 to 7 
74 to 8 



64 



3 to 4 
5 to 6 
9 to 10 

24 

3 

6 



10 to 11 
li 
14 
3 
4 

5 to 5 

6 to 6 

3 
4 

7 to 8 
10 to 11 

3 
34 to 4 
54 to 6 

3 

34 
5 

6 

8 to 8 

7 to 

2 

H 

4 
5 
6 

34 

4 

5 

6 to 7 

8 to 9 
10 to 11 

4 

44 
5 



74 



The manufacture of cotton, as we have seen, was general in 
India and had attained high excellence in the age of the first 
Greek historian, that is, in the fifth century before Christ, at 



THE COTTON MANUFACTURE. 357 

which time it had already existed for an unknown period ; yet 
eighteen centuries more elapsed before it was introduced into 
Italy or Constantinople, or even secured a footing in the neigh- 
boring empire of China. Though so well suited to hot climates, 
we have seen that cottons were known rather as a curiosity 
than as a common article of dress in Egypt and Persia, five 
centuries after the Greeks had heard of the "wool-bearing 
trees" of India : in Egypt, as has been shown, the manufacture 
never reached any considerable degree of excellence, and the 
muslins worn by the higher classes have always been imported 
from India*. In Spain the manufacture, after flourishing to 
some degree, became nearly extinct. In Italy, Germany, and 
Flanders, it had also a lingering and ignoble existence. 

* In Arabia and the neighboring countries, cottons and muslins came gradually 
into use ; and the manufacture was spread, by the commercial activity and enter- 
prise of the early followers of Mohammed, throughout the extended territories 
subdued by their arms. " It is recorded of the fanatical Omar, the immediate 
successor of the Arabian impostor, that he preached in a tattered cotton gown, torn 
in twelve places ; and of Ali, his contemporary, who assumed the caliphate after 
him, that on the day of his inauguration, he went to the mosque dressed in a thin 
cotton gown, tied round him with a girdle, a coarse turban on his head, his slip- 
pers in one hand, and his bow in the other, instead of a walking staff." — Crich- 
ton's History of Arabia, vol. i. pp. 397, 403. 



PART FOURTH, 

ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 



CHAPTER I. 
FLAX. 



CULTIVATION AND MANUFACTURE OF FLAX BY THE ANCIENTS 

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC. 

Earliest mention of Flax — Linen manufactures of the Egyptians — Linen worn by 
the priests of Isis — Flax grown extensively in Egypt — Flax gathering — Envel- 
opes of Linen found on Egyptian mummies — Examination of mummy-cloth — 
Proved to be Linen — Flax still grown in Egypt — Explanation of terms — Bys- 
sus — Reply to J. R. Forster — Hebrew and Egyptian terms — Flax in North 
Africa, Colchis, Babylonia — Flax cultivated in Palestine — Terms for flax and 
tow — Cultivation of Flax in Palestine and Asia Minor — In Elis, Etruria, Cis- 
alpine Gaul, Campania, Spain — Flax of Germany, of the Atrebates, and of the 
Franks — Progressive use of linen among the Greeks and Romans. 

The earliest mention of flax by any author occurs in the ac- 
count of the plague of hail, which devastated Lower Egypt, 
Ex. ix. 31. The Hebrew term for flax in this and various 
other passages of the old Testament is nniaa ; the correspond- 
ing word in the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic versions is suro 
Kivov, LXX. Linum, Jerome. 

In Isaiah xix. 9, according to King James's Translators and 
Bishop Lowth, mention is made of those " that work in fine 
flax," and which was one of the chief employments of the 
Egyptians. According to Herodotus (ii. 37, 81.) the Egyptians 
universally wore linen shirts, which were fringed at the bottom. 
The fringe consisted of the thrums, or ends of the webs. 
Thrums used for this purpose may be seen in the cloths which 
are found in Egyptian mummies. 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 359 

Besides the linen shirt the priests wore an upper garment of 
linen, more especially when they officiated in the temples. 
This garment was probably of the exact form of a modern 
linen sheet. The distinction between the shirt and the sheet 
worn over it, as well as the reason why linen was used for all 
sacred purposes, is clearly expressed in the two following pas- 
sages from Apuleius and Jerome. 

Etiamne cuiquam mirum videri potest, cui sit ulla memoria religionis, hominem 
tot mysteriis Deum conscium, quasdam sacrorum crepundia domi adversare, atque 
ea lineo texto involvere, quod purissimum est rebus divinis vel amentum? Quippe 
Sana, segnissimi corporis excrementum, pecori detracta, jam hide Orphei et Pyth- 
agoras scitis, profanus vestitus est Sed enim mundissima lini seges, inter optimas 
fruges terra exorta, non modo indutui et amietui sanctissimis iEgyptiorum sacer- 
dotibus, sed opertui quoque in rebus sacris usurpatur. 

Apuleii Apolog. p. 64. ed. Priccei. 

Can any one impressed with a sense of religion wonder, that a man who has 
been made acquainted with so many mysteries of the gods, should keep at home 
certain sacred emblems and wrap them in a linen cloth, the purest covering for 
divine objects? For wool, the excretion of a sluggish body, taken from sheep, 
was deemed a profane attire even according to the early tenets of Orpheus and 
Pythagoras. But flax, that cleanest and best production of the field, is used, not 
only for the inner and outer clothing of the most holy priests of the Egyptians, 
but also for covering sacred objects. — Yates's Translation. 

Indutus was the putting on of the inner, amictus of the 
outer garment. 

Vestibus lineis utuntur ^Egyptii saeerdotes non solum extrinseeus, sed et intrin- 
secus. — nitron, in Ezek. 44. folio 257. 

The Egyptian priests use linen garments, not only without, but also within. 

Plutarch says*, that the priests of Isis wore linen on account 
of its purity, and he remarks how absurd and inconsistent would 
have been their conduct, if they had carefully plucked the 
hairs from their own bodies, and yet clothed themselves in 
wool, which is the hair of sheep. He also mentions the opinion 
of some who thought that flax was used for clothing, because 
the color of its blossom resembles the etherial blue ivhich 
S'rrounds the world; and he states, that the priests of Isis 
were also buried in their sacred vestments. According to 

* De Iside et Osiride, prope init. Opp. ed. H. Stephani, Par. 1572, torn, i 
p. 627, 628. 



360 ANCIENT HISTORY OP 

Strabo, Panopolis was an ancient seat of the linen manufac- 
ture*. 

Celsius in his Hierobotanicon {vol. ii. p. 287-291.), and Fors- 
ter in his treatise De Bysso Antiquorum {p. 65-68.) have 
quoted other passages from ancient authors, which concur to 
show the abundance and excellence of the flax grown anciently 
in Lower Egypt, and more particularly in the vicinity of Pelu- 
sium, the general employment of it among the inhabitants for 
clothing, and the exclusive use of linen cloth for the garments 
of the priesthood and for other sacred purposes, and especially 
for the worship of Isis and Osiris. From the same authorities 
we learn, that the Egyptian flax and the cloth woven from it 
were shipped in great quantities to all the ports of the Mediter- 
raneanf. 

In connection with these statements the reader is referred to 
what has already been advanced (See Part Second, Chap. I.) 
on the use of wool for clothing by the Egyptians ; and it may 
be also observed, that when we find it stated by ancient au- 
thors, that the priests wore linen only, the term ought not to be 
so strictly understood as to exclude the use of cotton, which 
would probably be considered equally pure and equally adapted 
for sacred purposes with linen, and which was brought in an- 
cient times from India to Egypt ; and the term linum was un- 
doubtedly often employed in so general a sense as to include 
cotton. 

These testimonies of ancient authors are confirmed in a very 
remarkable manner by existing monuments. The paintings 
in the Grotto of El Kab represent among other scenes a field 
of corn and a crop of flax, the latter distinguished by its infe- 
rior height, by its round capsules, and by being pulled up by 
the roots instead of being reaped. The mode of binding the 
flax in bundles is also exhibited, and the separation of the 
" bolls," or capsules, containing the lin-seed, from the stalk, 
by the use of a comb, or " ripple." {See Description de 

* L. xvii. § 41. p. 586. ed. Siebenkees. 

t " Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn" (rTipts) : 1 
Kings x. 28. 2 Chron. i. 16. 



THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 361 

VEgypte : Antiquites ; Planches, tome i. pi. 68. and the 
Plates to Hamilton's JEgyptiaca, xxiii.) 

In Plate VI. is inserted so much of the painting as relates to 
our present subject. Five persons are employed in plucking up 
the flax by the roots, viz., four men and one woman. The 
woman wears a shift reaching to her ancles, but transparent*. 
The four men wear shirts which reach to their knees, and are 
not transparent. Another man binds the flax into sheaves : a 
sixth carries it to a distance : and a seventh separates the seed 
from the stem by means of a four-toothed ripple. The back of 
the ripple rests on the ground ; its teeth being raised to the 
proper elevation by a prop, as shown in the drawing. The man 
sets his foot upon the back to keep the instrument firm, and, 
taking hold of a bunch of flax near the root, draws it through 
the comb. This method is now employed in Europe. At the 
left-hand corner of the Plate lies a bundle of flax stript of its 
capsules, and underneath the ripple is the heap of seed which 
has been separated from the stem. 

Evidence equally decisive is presented in the innumerable 
mummies, the fabrication of successive ages through a period 
of more than two thousand years, which are found in the cata- 
combs of Egypt. It is indeed disputed, whether the cloth in 
which they are enveloped is linen or cotton. 

It was believed to be linen by all writers previous to Rouelle. 
More especially, this opinion was advanced by the learned 
traveller and antiquary, Professor John Greaves, in his Pyra- 
midographia, published A. D. 1646. He speaks of the " linen 
shroud " of a mummy, which he opened, and he says, " The 
ribbands" (or fillets) " by what I observed, were of linen, which 
was the habit also of the Egyptian priests." He adds, " of 
these ribbands I have seen some so strong and perfect as if 
they had been made but yesterday." 

Rouelle's dissertation on Mummies is published in the Me- 
moires de V Academie R. des Sciences for the year 1750. He 
there asserts (p. 150), that the cloth of every mummy which 

* This circumstance is adapted to illustrate the mention of " transparent gar- 
ments" in Isaiah iii. 23. Lowth's Translation. 

46 



362 ANCIENT HISTORY OF 

he had an opportunity of examining, even that of embalmed 
birds, was cotton. 

Dr. Hadley, however, who wrote a few years after Rouelle 
{Phil. Transactions for 1764, vol. 54.), seems to adhere to the 
old opinion. He calls the cloth of the mummy, which he ex- 
amined, " linen." He says, it was in fillets of different breadths, 
but the greater part lj inches broad. " They were torn longi- 
tudinally : those few that had a selvage, having it on one side 
only." 

But the opinion of Rouelle received a strong support from 
Dr. John Reinhold Forster, to whom it appeared at first almost 
incredible, although he afterwards supported it in the most 
decided manner. He determined to take the first opportunity 
of settling the question by the inspection of mummies, and 
examined those in the British Museum, accompanied by Dr. 
Solander. Both of these learned and acute inquirers were con- 
vinced, that the cloth was cotton, deriving this opinion from the 
inspection of all those specimens, which were sufficiently free 
from gum, paint, and resins, to enable them to judge*. Larcher 
informs us, that he remarked the same thing in these mummies 
in 1752, when he was accompanied by Dr. Matyt. It is to be 
observed, however, that neither Larcher, Rouelle, nor Forster 
mentions the criterion which he employed to distinguish linen 
from cotton. They probably formed their opinion only from its 
apparent softness, its want of lustre, or some other quality, which 
might belong to linen no less than to cotton, and which there- 
fore could be no certain mark of distinction. 

The opinion of Larcher, Rouelle, and Forster appears to have 
been generally adopted. In particular we find it embraced by 
Blumenbach, who in the Philosophical Transactions for 1794 
speaks of the " cotton bandages" of two of the small mummies, 
which he opened in London*. In his Beitrage (i. e. Contri- 
butions to Natural History, 2nd part, p. 73, Gottingen, 



* Forster, De Bysso Antiquorum, London 1776, p. 70, 71. 
t Herodote, par Larcher. Ed. 2nde, Par. 1802, livre ii. p. 357. 
t On the authority of this paper the mummy-cloth is supposed to be cotton by 
Heeren, Ideen, i. 1. p. 128. 



THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 363 

1811) he says, he is more firmly convinced than ever, that the 
cloth is universally cotton. He assigns also his reasons in the 
following terms. " I ground this my conviction far less on my« 
own views than on the assurance of such persons as I have 
questioned on the subject, and whose judgment in this matter I 
deem incomparably superior to my own or to that of any other 
scholar, namely, of ladies, dealers in cotton and linen cloth, 
weavers and the like." He also refers to the cultivation of 
cotton in Egypt, which he assumes probably on* the authority 
of Forster ; and to the fable of Isis enveloping in " cotton" 
cloth the collected limbs of her husband Osiris, who had been 
torn in pieces by Typhon. The latter arguments are founded 
on the supposition, that the ancient term Byssus meant cotton, 
and not linen. But the question as to its meaning must in 
part be decided, as we shall see hereafter, by previously settling 
the present question as to the materials of the mummy cloth. 
The opinion of ladies, tradesmen, and manufacturers, though 
it may be better than that of the most learned man, if derived 
from mere touch and inspection, is quite insufficient to decide 
the question. If those whom Blumenbach consulted thought 
that the cloth was always cotton, many others of equal expe- 
rience and discernment have given an opposite judgment ; and 
the fact is, that linen cloth, which has been long worn and often 
washed, as is the case with a great proportion of the mummy 
cloth, and which is either ragged or loose in its texture, cannot 
be distinguished from cotton by the unassisted use of the exter- 
nal senses. 

Relying, however, on the same evidence of ocular inspection, 
another distinguished author, who travelled in Egypt and pub- 
lished his remarks about the same time, says, "As to the 
circumstance of cotton cloths having been exclusively used in 
the above process, an inspection of the mummies is sufficient 
evidence of the fact*." 

M. Jomard, one of the authors of the great French work on 
Egypt, published about 1811, paid great attention to this sub- 
ject. He concluded, that both linen and cotton were employed 

* jEgyptiaca, by William Hamilton, Esq. F. R. S. London, 1809. p. 320. 



364 ANCIENT HISTORY OP 

in the bandages of mummies, grounding his opinion partly on 
their appearance and touch, and partly on the testimony of 
Herodotus, whom he misinterpreted in the manner, which will 
hereafter be mentioned*. 

Another of these authors, M. Costaz, who contributed the 
memoir on the grotto of El Kab, asserts that the mummy cloth 
is found on examination to be cottont. 

An important paper on the same subject appeared in the 
Philosophical Transactions for 1825. In this Dr. A. B. Gran- 
ville describes a mummy, which he opened. He dwells more 
particulary on the circumstances, which have reference to ana- 
tomical and surgical considerations, and expresses very strongly 
his admiration of the skill and neatness employed in folding the 
cloth, so as to present an example of every kind of bandage 
used by modern surgeons, and to exhibit it in the most perfect 
manner. 

The passages which are connected with the present inquiry, 
will be quoted at length. Dr. Granville observes (p. 272.), 

The principal rollers appear to be made of a very compact, yet elastic linen, 
some of them from four to five yards in length, without any stitch or seam in any 
part of them. There were also some large square pieces thrown around the head, 
thorax, and abdomen, of a less elastic texture. These pieces were found to alter- 
nate with the complete swathing of the whole body. They occurred four distinct 
times ; while the bandaging, with rollers and other fasciae, was repeated, at least, 
twenty times. The numerous bandages, by which the mummy was thus envel- 
oped, were themselves wholly covered by a roller 3£ inches wide and 11 yards 
long, which after making a few turns around both feet, ascended in graceful spi- 
rals to the head, whence descending again as far as the breast, it was fixed there. 
The termination of this outer roller is remarkable for 4he loose threads hanging 
from it in the shape of a fringe and for certain traces of characters imprinted on 
it similar to those described and delineated by Jomard in the Description de 
V Egypte. One or two of these characters have corroded the linen, leaving the 
perforated traces of their form. 

Dr. Granville gives a fac-simile of these characters, and in 
the same Plate he represents the exact appearance of the exter- 
nal rolls of cloth on the mummy. He then says {p. 274.), 

I have satisfied myself, that both cotton and linen have been employed in the 
preparation of our mummy, although Herodotus mentions only cotton (byssus) 

* Description de PEgypte. Memoires. — Sur les Hypoge"es, p. 35. 
t Ibid. torn. i. p. 60. 



THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 365 

as the material used for the purpose. Most mummies have been described as 
wholly enveloped in linen cloth, and some persons are disposed to doubt the exist- 
ence of cotton cloth in any, not excepting in the one now under consideration. 

But with respect to the last point, a simple experiment has, I think, set the 
question at rest. If the surface of old linen, and of old cotton cloth be rubbed 
briskly and for some minutes with a rounded piece of glass or ivory, after being 
washed and freed from all extraneous matter, the former will be found to have 
acquired considerable lustre ; while the latter will present no other difference than 
that of having the threads flattened by the operation. By means of this test I 
selected several pieces of cotton cloth from among the many bandages of our 
mummy, which I submitted to the inspection of an experienced manufacturer, 
who declared them to be of that material. 

Besides the appeal to the senses of " an experienced manu- 
facturer," Dr. Granville here proposes a new test, that of rub- 
bing in the manner described. But, although cotton cloth in 
all circumstances has less lustre than linen, still this cannot be 
considered a satisfactory criterion. 

The ingenious John Howell of Edinburgh* paid some atten- 
tion 1$ this question, having a few years since obtained and 
opened a valuable mummy. He and the friends, whom he 
consulted, and who were weavers and other persons of practi- 
cal experience, most of them thought that the cloth was alto- 
gether linen : some however thought that certain specimens of 
it were cotton. 

This curious and important question was at length decisively 
settled by means of microscopic observations instituted by James 
Thomson, Esq. F. R. S. of Clitheroe, one of the most obser- 
vant ' and experienced cotton-manufacturers in Great Britain. 
He obtained about 400 specimens of mummy cloth, and em- 
ployed Mr. Bauer of Kew to examine them with his microscopes. 
By the same method the structure and appearance of the ulti- 
mate fibres of modern cotton and flax were ascertained ; and 
were found to be so distinct that there was no difficulty in deci- 
ding upon the ancient specimens, and it was also found that 
they were universally linen. About twelve years after Mr. 
Thomson had commenced his researches he published the re- 
sults of them in the Philosophical Magazine!, and he has ac- 

* Author of an Essay on the War Galleys of the Ancients, Edinburgh 1826, 8vo. 
t Third Series, vol. v. No. 29, November 1834 



366 ANCIENT HISTORY OF 

companied them with a Plate exhibiting the obvious difference 
between the two classes of objects. The ultimate fibre of cotton 
is a transparent tube without joints, flattened so that its inward 
surfaces are in contact along its axis, and also twisted spirally 
round its axis (See A. Plate VI.) : that of flax is a transparent 
tube jointed like a cane, and not flattened nor spirally twisted 
(See B. Plate VI.). To show the difference two specimens of 
the fibres of cotton, and two of the fibres of mummy cloth are 
exhibited, all of the specimens being one hundredth of an inch 
long, and magnified 400 times in each dimension. Any per- 
son, even with a microscope of moderate power, may discern 
the difference between the two kinds of fibres, though not so 
minutely and exactly as in the figures of Mr. Bauer. 

The difference, here pointed out, will explain why linen has 
greater lustre than cotton : it is no doubt because in linen the 
lucid surfaces are much larger. The same circumstance may 
also explain the different effect of linen and cotton uplki the 
health and feelings of those who wear them (See Part Third, 
Chap. I.). Every linen thread presents only the sides of 
cylinders : that of cotton, on the other hand, is surrounded by 
an innumerable multitude of exceedingly minute edges. 

Mr. Pettigrew, in his "History of Egyptian Mummies" 
[London 1834, p. 95.), expresses the opinion that the bandages 
"are principally of cotton, though occasionally of linen. He has 
since arrived at the conclusion that they are all of linen : and 
his opinion appears to be established on the following evidence, 
which he gives in a note to the above mentioned work (p. 91.). 

Dr. Ure has been so good as to make known to me that which I conceive to 
be the most satisfactory test of the absolute nature of flax and cotton, and in the 
course of his microscopic researches on the structure of textile fibres he has suc- 
ceeded in determining their distinctive characters. From a most precise and ac- 
curate examination of these substances he has been able to draw the following 
statement: — The filaments of flax have a glassy lustre when viewed by day-light 
in a good microscope, and a cylindrical form, which is very rarely flattened. 
Their diameter is about the two-thousandth part of an inch. They break trans- 
versely with a smooth surface, like a tube of glass cut with a file. A line of light 
distinguishes their axis, with a deep shading on one side only, or on both sides, 
according to the direction in which the incident rays fall on the filaments. 

The filaments of cotton are almost never true cylinders, but are more or less 
flattened and tortuous ; so that when viewed under the microscope they appear 



THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 367 

in one part like a riband from the one-thousandth to the twelve -hundredth part 
of an inch broad, and in another like a sharp edge or narrow line. They have a 
pearly translucency in the middle space, with a dark narrow border at each side, 
like a hem. When broken across, the fracture is fibrous or pointed. Mummy 
cloth, tried by these criteria in the microscope, appears to be composed both in its 
warp and woof-yarns of flax, and not of cotton. A great variety of the swathing 
fillets have been examined with an excellent achromatic microscope, and they 
have all evinced the absence of cotton filaments. 

Mr. Wilkinson considers the observations of Dr. Ure, and 
Mr. Bauer as decisive of the question*. 

With regard to the evidence from mummies it should be 
further remarked, that, as they are partly wrapped in old linen 
(shirts, napkins, and other articles of clothing and domestic fur- 
niture being found with the long fillets and the entire webs), 
they prove the general application of linen in Egypt to all the 
purposes of ordinary life. 

Even to the present day flax continues to be a most impor- 
tant article of cultivation and trade in Egyptt. The climate 
and soil are so favorable, that it there grows to a height, which 
it never reaches in Europe. It must no doubt, become coarser 
in proportion to its size, and this circumstance may account for 
the use of it in ancient times for all those purposes, for which 
we employ hemp, as for making nets, ropes, and sail-cloth. 
The fine linen of the ancient Egyptians must have been 
made from flax of lower growth and with thinner stems ; and 
the mummies testify, that they made cloth of the finest as well 
as of the coarsest texture. 

The following remark of Hasselquist respecting the soft and 
loose texture of the linen made in Egypt in his time agrees re- 
markably with the appearance of that found in mummies. 
" The Egyptian linen is not so thick," says he, " as the Eu- 
ropean, being softer and of a looser texture ; for which reason 
it lasts longer and does not wear out so soon as ours, which fre- 
quently wears out the faster on account of its stiffness." He 
also observes, " The common people in Egypt are clothed in 



* Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, London 1837, vol. iii. 
p. 115. 

t Browne's Travels in Africa, p. 83. 



368 ANCIENT HISTORY OF 

linen only, dyed blue with indigo ; but those of better fortune 
have a black cloak over their linen shirt." 

The coarse linen of the Ancient Egyptians was called ®acw. 
It was made of thick flax, and was used for towels (ow><5api«, Ju- 
lius Pollux, vii. c. 16.), and for sails (^cS^ojvas, Lycophron, v. 
26.)*. <£u<ra)i/ may be translated canvass, or sail-cloth. 

Fine linen, on the other hand, was called 'besv*. This term, 
as well as the preceding, was in all probability an Egyptian 
word, adopted by the Greeks to denote the commodity, to which 
the Egyptians themselves applied it. It seems to correspond, 
as Salmasiust, Celsius!, Forster§, and Jablonskill have observed, 
to the t5i"is» tiuk, " Fine linen of Egypt," in Proverbs vii. 16. 
For tibk, put into Greek letters and with Greek terminations, 
becomes aeui/ij and 6&6vu>v. Hesychius states, no doubt correctly, 
that 666vri was applied by the Greeks to any fine and thin cloth, 
though not of linenl". But this was in later times and by a 
general and secondary application of the term. 

It appears also that in later times m V n was not restricted to fine 
linen. It is used for a sail by Achilles Tatius in describing a 
storm (1. hi.), and by the Scholiast on Homer, 11. c . 

Agreeably to the preceding remarks, the &B6vai mentioned in 
the two passages of the Iliad may be supposed to have been 
procured from Egypt. Helen, when she goes to meet the sen- 
ators of Ilium at the Scsean Gate, wraps herself in a white 
sheet of fine linen (II. y. 141.). The women, dancing on the 
shield of Achilles (II. a. 595.), wear thin sheets. These thin 
sheets must be supposed to have been worn g,s shawls, or girt 
about the bodies of the dancers. Helen would wear hers so as 
to veil her whole person agreeably to the representation of the 



* Jablonski Gloesarium Vocum iEgyptiarum, in Valpy's edition of Steph. The- 
eaur. torn. i. p. ccxev. 

t Salmasius in Achill. Tat. 1. viii. c. 13, 686vris %inu»'. 

X Celsii Hierobotanicon, t. ii. p. 90. 

§ Forster, De Bysso, p. 74. 

|1 Ubi supra, p. ccxvn. 

V The ancient Scholia (published by Mai and Butmann) on Od. rj. 107, state 
that 666vai were made both of flax and of wool. The silks of India are called 
'OB6vai cripiica. 



THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 369 

lady, whom Paulus Silentiarius addresses in the following 
line, written evidently with Homer's Helen before his mind : 

You conceal your flowing locks with a snow-white sheet—Brunei, Analecta, 
vol. iii. p. 81. 

Perhaps even the sheets, spread for Phoenix to lie upon in the 
tent of Achilles, and for Ulysses on his return to Ithica from 
the country of the Phseacians*, though not called by the Egyp- 
tian name, should be supposed to have been made in Egypt. 
In the time of Homer (900 B. C.) the use of linen cloth was 
certainly rare among the Greeks ; the manufacture of it was 
perhaps as yet unknown to them. 

The term &**»'„ (Sindori), was used to denote linen cloth still 
more extensively than <wa»„, inasmuch as it occurs both in Greek 
and Latin authorst. According to Julius Pollux this also was 
a word of Egyptian origin, and Coptic scholars inform us that 
it is found in the modern Shento, which has the same significa- 
tion %. 

Serapion was called Sindonites, because he always wore 
linen (Palladii Hist. Lausiaca, p. 172). He was an Egyptian, 
and retained the custom of his native country. 

Although £»*&. originally denoted linen, we find it applied, 
like 'OBdvn, to cotton cloth likewise ; and although both of these 
terms probably denoted at first those linen cloths only, and es- 
pecially the finer kinds of them, which were made in Egypt, 
yet as the manufacture of linen extends itself into other coun- 
tries, and the exports of India were added to those of Egypt, 
all varieties either of linen or cotton cloth, wherever woven, 
were designated by the Egyptian names 'OB6» n and E^v. 

Another term, which is probably of Egyptian origin, and 
therefore requires explanation here, is the term B B v« s or Byssus. 
Vossius {Etymol. L. Lat. v. Byssus) thinks it was, as Pollux 
and Isidore assert, a fine, white, soft flax, and that the cloth 
made from it was like the modern cambric : " Similis fuisse 
videtur lino isti, quod vulgo Cameracense appellamus." Cel- 
sius, in his Hierobotanicon [vol. ii. p. 173.), gives the same ex- 

* II. ..657. OA ,.73.118. t E. g. Martial. 

t Jablonski, ubi supra, p. cclxxiv. 

47 



370 ANCIENT HISTORY OF 

planation. This was indeed the general opinion of learned 
men, until J. R. Forster advanced the position, that Byssus ivas 
cotton. A careful examination of the question confirms the 
correctness of the old opinions, and for the following reasons. 

I. The earliest author, who uses the term, is iEschylus. He 
represents Antigone wearing a shawl or sheet of fine flax*. In 
the Bacchee of Euripides (I. 776.) the same garment, which 
was distinctive of the female sex, is introduced under the same 
denomination. We cannot suppose, that dramatic writers 
would mention in plays addressed to a general audience cloth- 
ing of any material with which they were not familiarly ac- 
quainted. But the Greeks in the time of iEschylus and Eu- 
ripides knew little or nothing of cotton. They had, however, 
been long supplied with fine linen from Egypt and Phoenice ; 
and the Pwaivov n-in-Xco/ia of Antigone is the same article of female 
attire with the dpyswai dOouai of Helen, described by Homer. In- 
deed iEschylus himself in two other passages calls the same 
garment linen. In the Coephoree (I. 25, 26.) the expressions, 

Aivo(pQ6poi &' ifpaa^OLTUiv \axiScs and JlpuuTspvot otoX/joi iriirXwv. describe the 

rents, expressive of sorrow, which were made in the linen veil 
or shawl (ttettXos) of an Oriental woman. In the Supplices (I. 
120.) the leader of the chorus says, she often tears her linen, 
or her Sidonian veil. 

II. The next author in point of time, and one of the first in 
point of importance, is Herodotus. In his account of the mode 
of making mummies, he says (I. ii. c. 86.) the embalmed body 
was enveloped in cotton. But the fillets or bandages of the 
mummies are proved by microscopic observations to be univer- 
sally linen ; at least all the specimens have been found to be 
linen, which have been submitted to this, the only decisive test. 

III. Herodotus also states (vii. 181.), that a man, wounded in 
an engagement, had his torn limbs bound aiv&6 V os Pwoivns TtkapSai. 
Now, supposing that the persons concerned had their choice 
between linen and cotton, there can be no doubt that they 
would choose linen as most suitable for such a purpose. Cotton, 
when applied to wounds, irritates them. Julius Pollux men- 

* Septem contra Thebas, 1. 1041. See also Persse, I. 129. 



THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 371 

tions (I. iv. c. 20. 181. ; I. vii. c. 16. and 25. 72.) these ban- 
dages as used in surgery. The same fillets, which were used to 
swathe dead bodies, were also adapted for surgical purposes. 
Hence a Greek Epigram (Brunck, An. iii. 169.) represents a 
surgeon and an undertaker as leaguing to assist each 
other in business. The undertaker supplies the surgeon 
with bandages stolen from the dead bodies, and the surgeon in 
return sends his patients to the undertaker ! 

IV. Diodorus Siculus (l. i. § 85. torn. i. p. 96.) records a tra- 
dition, that Isis put the limbs of Osiris into a wooden cow, cov- 
ered with Byssina. No reason can be imagined, why cotton 
should have been used for such a purpose ; whereas the use of 
fine linen to cover the hallowed remains was in perfect accord- 
ance with all the ideas and practices of the Egyptians. 

Y. Plutarch, in his Treatise de Iside et Osiride (Opp. ed. 
Stephani, 1572, vol. iv. p. 653.) says, that the priests envelop- 
ed the gilded bull, which represented Osiris, in a black sheet of 
Byssus. Now nothing can appear more probable, than that 
the Egyptians would employ for this purpose the same kind of 
cloth, which they always applied to sacred uses ; and in addi- 
tion to all the other evidence before referred to, we find Plutarch 
in this same treatise expressly mentioning the linen garments 
of the priesthood, and stating, that the priests were entombed 
in them after death, a fact verified at the present day by the 
examination of the bodies of priests found in the catacombs. 

VI. The magnificent ship, constructed for Ptolemy Philopa- 
tor, which is described at length in Athenseus, had a sail of the 
fine linen of Egypt*. It is not probable, that in a vessel, every 
part of which was made of the best and most suitable mate- 
rials, the sail would be of cotton. Moreover Hermippus de- 
scribes Egypt as affording the chief supply of sails for all parts 
of the worldt : and Ezekiel represents the Tyrians as obtaining 
cloth from Egypt for the sails and pendants of their ships*. 

VII. It is recorded in the Rosetta Inscription (I. 17, 18.), that 



* Deipnos. 1. v. p. 206 C. ed. Casaubon. 
t Apud. AthenaBiim, Deipnos. 1. i. p. 27 F. 

t Ez. xxvii. 7. m-isma fi»p*T3 »». 



372 ANCIENT HISTORY OF 

Ptolemy Epiphanes remitted two parts of the fine linen cloths, 
which were manufactured in the temples for the king's palace ; 
and (I. 29.) that he also remitted a tax on those, which were 
not made for the king's palace. Thus in an original and con- 
temporary monument we read, that 'Odovia Pvcciva were at a par- 
ticular time manufactured in Egypt. But we have no reason 
to believe, that cotton was then manufactured in Egypt at all, 
whereas linen cloth was made in immense quantities. 

YIII. Philo, who lived at Alexandria, and could not be igno- 
rant upon the subject, plainly uses Biuaos to mean flax. He 
says, the Jewish High-Priest wore a linen garment, made of the 
purest Byssus, which was a symbol of firmness, incorruption, 
and of the clearest splendor, since fine linen is most difficult to 
tear, is made of nothing mortal, and becomes brighter and more 
resembling light, the more it is cleansed by washing*. 

Here we may notice the tenacity of the cloth found in 
Egyptian mummies. A great part of it is quite rotten ; and its 
tender and fragile state is to be accounted for, not only from its 
great antiquity and exposure to moisture, but from the circum- 
stance, that much of it was old and worn, when first applied to 
the purpose of swathing dead bodies. Nevertheless pieces are 
found of great strength and durability. 

Hans Jac. Amman, who visited the catacombs of Sakara in 
1613, found the bandages so strong, that he was obliged to cut 
them with scissorst. Professor Greavest and Lord Sandwich 
found them as firm as if they were just taken from the loom. 
Abdollatiph, who visited Egypt A. D. 1200, mentions that the 
Arabs employed the mummy cloth to make garments^ Much 
more recently the same practice has been attested as coming 
under his observation by Seetzenll. Caillaud discovered in the 
mummy, which he opened, several napkins in such a state of 
preservation, that he took a fancy to use one. He had it wash- 
ed eight times without any perceptible injury. " With a sort 

* De Somniis, vol. i. p. 653. Mangey. 

t Blumenbach's Beitriige, Th. 2. p. 74. X Pyramidographia. 

§ P. 221 of the German translation ; p. 198 of Silvestre de Lacy's. See App. A. 
|| See his letter to Von Hammer in the Fundgruben des Orients, 1 St. p. 72. 
as quoted by Blumenbach, 1. c. 



THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 373 

of veneration,"' says he, " I unfolded every day this venerable 
linen, which had been woven more than 1700 years." ( Voy- 
age a Meroe et au Fleuve Blanc.) 

IX. According to Josephus the Jewish priests wore drawers 
of spun flax, and over the drawers a shirt. He calls a garment 
made of B»w os a linen garment. It had flowers woven into it, 
which were of three different substances*. He soon after 
mentions the same materials as used for making the curtains 
of the tabernacle. In all these instances the figures or orna- 
ments were of splendid colors upon a ground of white linen. 
We have no reason to believe, that either the Egyptians or the 
Israelites in the time of Moses knew anything of cotton : so 
that, if Josephus gives a true account, Bvwos must have denoted 
a kind of flax. 

X. Jerome on Ezekiel xxvii. says, " Byssus grows principally 
in Egypt" [Byssus in JEgypto quam maxime nascitur). 
Of the celebrity of the Egyptian flax we have the most abun- 
dant proofs ; but, if by Byssus Jerome meant cotton, he here 
committed a strange mistake; for, supposing cotton to have 
grown at all in Egypt, it certainly grew far more abundantly m 
other countries, and of this fact he could scarcely be ignorant. 

XL Martianus Capella plainly distinguishes between that 
substance and Byssust. He seems to have considered cotton 
as an Indian, Byssus as an Egyptian product. He certainly 
supposed, that they were not the same thing. 

XII. Isidorus Hispalensis expressly states, that Byssus was 
a kind of flax, very white and soft. 

Byssus genus est quoddam lini nimium candidi et mollissimi, quod Graeci papa- 
tem vocant. — Orig. I. xix. 27. 

Byssina (vestis) Candida, confecta ex quodam genere lini grossioris Sunt et qui 
genus quoddam lini byssum esse existiment. — Ibid. c. 22. 

Forster conjectures (p. 4.) that for genus quoddam lini we 
should read genus quoddam lance, and conceives free-wool (as 

* Ant. Jud. iii. 7. 1, 2. p. 112. ed. Hudson. 

The shirt of the High Priest of the Jews was probably like that worn in the 
worship of Isis, which was of Byssus, but adorned with flowers, " Byssina, sed 
floride depicta." Apuleius, Met. 1. xi. 

t Etym. L. Lat. v. By6sus. 



374 ANCIENT HISTORY OF 

Pollux and some others call it), i. e. cotton, to be intended. His 
conjecture seems probable. The remark of Isidore intimates, 
that in his time it had already been a matter of dispute whether 
Byssus was a kind of flax or something else. 

XIII. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, testifies to the great strength 
of the threads of Byssus. 

Cloth made of Byssus indicates firm faith : 

For threads of Byssus, it is said, surpass 

E'en ropes of broom in firmness and in strength*. 

Ad Cytkerium in Max. Biblioth. Patrum, vol. vi. p. 264. 

Vossius also quotes the authority of Jerome and Eucherius 
to prove the great tenacity of Byssus. But, if Byssus were 
cotton, it certainly would not have been celebrated on that 
account. 

The arguments of Dr. J. R. Forster on the other side of the 
question will now be considered. See his Liber Singulai'is 
de Bysso Antiquorum, Lon. 1776, p. 11. 50. 

I. His first argument is as follows. Julius Pollux says 
(I. vii. c. 17.), that Bvccros was " a kind of flax among the In- 
dians." The Jewish rabbis indeed all explain the Hebrew iBtti 
(Shesh), which in the Septuagint is always translated Buo^s, as 
signifying flax. But they use the term for flax in so loose and 
general a way, that they may very properly be supposed to have 
included cotton under it. In the same general sense we must 
suppose AiW to be used by Julius Pollux ; and it is clear, that 
he must have meant cot ton 5 because cotton grows abundantly 
in India, whereas flax was never known to grow in India at all. 

In proof of this last assertion Forster refers to Osbeck's Jour- 
nal, vol i. p. 383. He also appeals to a passage of Philostratus 
( Vita Apollonii, I. ii. c. 20. p. 70, 71.), which has been quoted 
in Part Third, p. 328., where that author certainly applies the 
term in question to the cotton of India. 

An answer to this argument, so far as it depends on the testi- 
mony of Julius Pollux, was furnished by Olaus Celsius in his 
Hierobotanicon, published in 1747, a work which Forster had 
better have consulted, when he was writing a treatise expressly 

* See Part First, Chapters XII. and XIII. 



THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 375 

intended to ascertain the meaning of one of the botanical terms 
employed in the Scriptures. The learned and accurate Swede 
gives on good authority an emendation of the text of Pollux, 
which entirely destroys the argument founded upon it by Forster 
and those who agree with him. According to this reading 
Pollux only asserts that Bs^s is a kind of flax, without adding 
that it grew among the Indians*. In a separate Appendix (E.), 
will be examined distinctly and fully the critical evidence for 
the correct state of the passages of Pollux, which it may be 
found necessary to cite. Pollux, in asserting that Byssus was 
a kind of flax, coincides with all the other witnesses who have 
been produced. 

Forster is also exceedingly incorrect in his mode of reasoning 
upon the passage of Pollux, supposing it to be accurate and 
genuine. He argues, that Pollux must have meant cotton by 
" a kind of flax among the Indians" because real flax does 
not grow in India at all ; " In India vero linum non erat, nee 
quidem nostra setate linum reperitur in India, quod jam Osbeck- 
ius in Itinerario ostendit, p. 383. vol. i. edit. Anglicee." The 
" English edition" of Osbeck's Voyage is a translation from 
the German by Forster himself. In the page referred to we 
find the following passage relative to flax, and no other : — 
" Flax is so rare a commodity in the East, that many have 
judged with great probability that the fine linen of the rich 
man, Luke xvi. 19, was no more than our common linen." 
This sentence implies that flax grew in the East, though 
rarely. Whether it grew in India, Osbeck does not inform us. 
Dr. Wallich, who travelled in India, states that flax grows in 
India, and that he remembered having seen there a whole field 
blue with its flowers. It is cultivated principally for its seed, 
from which oil is extracted, the stalks being thrown aside as 
useless. 

With respect to the passage from Philostratus, it is admitted, 
that he uses Bi^os to denote cotton. Besides its proper and 
original sense, this word was occasionally used, as \ivov, dddw, 
iSitidon, Carbasus, and many others were, in a looser and more 

* Celsii Hierobot. vol. ii. p. 171 



376 ANCIENT HISTORY OF 

general application. But the use of the term in this manner 
by a single writer, or even, if they could be produced, by several 
writers of so late an age as Philostratus, would be of little 
weight in opposition to the evidence, which has been brought 
forward to prove, that Bs<r<ro S properly meant flax only. 

II. Forster produces a passage from the Eliaca of Pausanias* 
from which he argues, that /Wo? was not flax, because Pausa- 
nias here distinguishes it from flax as well as from hemp. 

But we know, that all plants undergo great changes by cul- 
tivation and in consequence of the varieties of soil and climate. 
What can be more striking than the innumerable tulips derived 
from the original yellow tulip of Turkey, or all the varieties of 
pinks and carnations from a single species ? To make all the 
descriptions of cloth from the coarsest canvass or sail-cloth to 
the most beautiful lawn or cambric, there must have been, as 
there now are, great differences in the living plant. The best 
explanation therefore of the language of Pausanias seems to be, 
that he used \ivov to denote the common kind of flax, and froaos 
to signify a finer variety!". In another passage, where he 
speaks of the Elean Byssus, his language shows, that its pecu- 
liar excellence consisted both in its fineness and in its beautiful 
yellow color ; for after expressing the admiration, to which this 
substance was entitled, as growing nowhere else in Greece, he 
says, that " in fineness it was not inferior to that of the He- 
brews, but was not equally yellow*." 

It may further be remarked in opposition to the idea, that 
Pvaaas meant cotton in these passages, that there is not the 
slightest ground for supposing, that cotton was cultivated either 

* Pans. 1. vi. cap. § 4. 

+ Pausanias also distinguishes between \ivov and (Iva-aos in his account of the 
clothing of a reputed statue of Neptune, 1. vi. c. 25. § 5. When flax is raised to 
be manufactured into cambric and fine lawn, twice as much seed is sown in the 
same space of ground. The plants then grow closer together ; the stalks are 
more delicate and slender ; and the fibres of each plant are finer in proportion. 

t L. v. 5. § 2. 

Others commend Byssus on account of its whiteness. See Philo. Apoc. xix. 14. 
Themistius (Orat. p. 57. ed. Paris, 1684. p. 68. ed. Dindorfii, Lips. 1832.) saw at 
Antioch " ancient letters wrapt in white Byssus." These, he says, were brought 
from Susa and Ecbatana. 



THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 377 

in Elis or in any other part of Europe so early as the time of 
Pausanias, nor indeed until a comparatively recent age. 

III. Forster {p. 69-71.) considers the testimony of Herodo- 
tus, that the embalmed bodies of the dead were' wrapt in fillets 
of Byssus, as decisive in favor of his opinion, because those fil- 
lets are found on examination to be all cotton. It is presumed 
that the preceding testimony, proves that so far as they have 
been examined, in the only way which can settle the dispute, 
they are found universally to be linen. 

Of Forster's celebrated work it may be observed in general, 
that he rather from the very beginning assumes his poi?it, 
than e?ideavors to prove it. He continually speaks of it as 
demonstrated. Nevertheless the only arguments which can be 
found in his book, are those already stated. Little as these ar- 
guments amount to in opposition to the evidence, which has 
now been brought forward on the other side of the question, we 
find that the most learned authors since Forster's time, and es- 
pecially since the same opinion was embraced by Blumenbach, 
have generally been content to adopt it. But, although such 
eminent names as those of Porson*, Dr. Thomas Youngt, Mr. 
Hamilton*, Dr. T. M. Harris§, Mr. Wellbelovedll, E. H. Barker!, 
Dr. A. Granville**, Jomardtt, WehrsU, J. H. Yoss§§, Heerenllll, 
SprengelTt, Billerbeck***, Geseniusttt, E. F. K. Rosenmul- 
ler+t+, and Roselini§§§, stand arrayed against the evidence now 

* In his translation of the Rosetta Inscription, Clarke's Greek Marbles, p. 63 

t Account of Discoveries in Hieroglyphic Literature, p. 101. 114. 

X iEgyptiaca, p. 321. 

§ Natural History of the Bible, 2nd edition, p. 447. 

|| Translation of the Bible, Gen. xli. 42. 

IT Classical Recreations. 

** As quoted at p. 364. 

tt Description des Hypogees, p. 35. 

XX Vom Papier, p. 201. 

§§ Virgil's L'andliche Gedichte, iii. p. 313. 

IIH Ideen iiber die Politik, &c. 

ITU" Historia Rei Herbariae, torn. i. c. i. p. 15. 

*** Flora Classica, p. 177. 

ttt Thesaurus Philologico-Criticus, v. £13. 

XXX Biblische Alterthumskunde, 4. 1. p. 175. 

§§§ Monumenti dell' Egitto. Mon. Civili, tomo. i. Pisa, 1834, capo. iv. § 6. 

48 



378 ANCIENT HISTORY OF 

produced, i. e. to prove that /3i™o S meant flax and not cotton, as 
those authors have supposed. Yet their evidence may be con- 
sidered as going all for nothing, because they express not their 
own opinion formed by independent inquiry and investigation, 
but merely the opinion which they have adopted from Forster 
and Blumenbach. 

There is, however, no reason to doubt, that Forster is right 
in considering Bicaos, or Byssus, as an Egyptian word with a 
Greek or Latin termination. In the Septuagint version it is al- 
ways used as equivalent to the Hebrew ttSiD (Shesh or Ses), 
which according to the Hebrew Rabbis was a kind of flax, that 
grew in Egypt only and was of the finest quality*. Another 
term, used in the Pentateuch for linen cloth is is (bad), which 
seems to be nearly the same as ffiiu. The Egyptian term an or 
s-in (puts) is very seldom found in the Hebrew Scriptures, and 
not until the intercourse became frequent between the Jews 
and other oriental nations. But it is continually employed by 
the Arabic, Persic, and Chaldee Translators, as equivalent to 
the Hebrew terms WW and 13. 

The distinction between Bi^os and the Egyptian terms for- 
merly explained is very obvious. $<5ow, 'OSw^ and ZwSwv deno- 
ted linen cloth; Bi™o S the plant, from which it was made. 
Hence we so commonly find the adjective form Biaaivos or Bys- 
sinus, i. e. made of Byssus, as in TiivSav Pvaaiw, 'Odnvri ptauivri, 'OBdvia 
fiitrmva, Hi6\n Pvauivr,, &c, and this is agreeable to the remark of the 
Patriarch Photius in his 192nd Epistle, $vtov Si f, /3iaa 0S , "Byssus 
is a plant." 

Herodotus (ii. 105.), pointing out resemblances between the 
Egyptians and the Colchians, says, they prepare their flax in 
the same manner, and in a manner which is practiced by no other 
nation. Xenophon directs, that nets should be made of flax from 
the Phasis, or from Carthaget. Pollux (I. v. cap. 4. § 26.) says, 

* Forster De Bysso, p. 5. 

t De Venat. ii. 4. Gratius Faliscus, i.n his directions on the same subject, rec- 
ommends the flax from the rich moist plains about the river Cinyps, not very far 
from Carthage. 

Optima Cinyphiae, ne quid contere, paludes 
Lina dabunt. — Cynegeticon, 34, 35. 



THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 379 

that the flax for the same purpose should be either from those 
countries, or from Egypt or Sardes. Callimachus {Frag. 265.) 
mentions the flax of Colchis under the name of " the Colchian 
halm." Strabo (I. xi. § 17. vol. iv.p. 402. Tschuz.) testifies to the 
celebrity of Colchis for the growth and manufacture of flax, 
and says, that the linen of this country was exported to distant 
places. 

It seems still to maintain its ancient pre-eminence : Larcher 
refers to Chardin [torn. i, p. 115.), as saying, that the Prince of 
Mingrelia, a part of the ancient Colchis, paid in his time an 
annual tribute of linen to the Turks. 

That flax was extensively cultivated in Babylonia appears 
from the testimony of Herodotus, who says (i. 195.), that the 
Babylonians wore a linen shirt reaching to the feet ; over that 
a woollen shirt ; and over that a white shawl. Strabo (I. xvi. 
cap. 1. p. 739. ed. Casaub.) shows where these linen shirts 
were chiefly made ; for he informs us that Borsippa, a city of 
Babylonia, sacred to Apollo and Diana, was a great place for 
the manufacture of linen. 

The cultivation of flax in the region of the Euphrates may 
also be inferred from the use of the linen thorax, as attested by 
Xenophon (Cyrojjedia, vi. 4. 2.). 

From Joshua ii. 6. we have evidence, that flax was cultivated 
in Palestine near the Jordan. Rahab concealed the two He- 
brew spies (according to the common English version) "with 
the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof." 
According to the Septuagint translation, " the stalks of flax" 
were not merely " laid in order," but " stacked." Josephus says, 
she was drying the bundles. The Chaldee Paraphrast On- 
kelos also uses the expression iota ijisa, bundles of flax. 
Agreeably to these explanations, the history must be understood 
as implying, that the stalks of flax, tied into bundles, as repre- 
sented in the painting at El Kab*, were stacked, probably cross- 
ways, upon the flat roof of Ahab's house, so as to allow the 
wind to blow through and dry them. 

Other passages, referring to the use of flax for weaving in 

* See Plate vi. p. 358. 



380 ANCIENT HISTORY OF 

Palestine, are Levit. xiii. 47, 48. 52. 59, where linen garments 
are four times mentioned in opposition to woollen. 

Proverbs xxi. 13. The virtuous woman, so admirably de- 
scribed in this chapter, " seeketh wool and flax, and worketh. 
willingly with her hands." (See Part First, Chapter I. p. 13.). 
This proves, that flax was still an important article of cultiva- 
tion in Palestine. 

In 1 Chron. iv. 21. there is an allusion to a great establish- 
ment for dressing the fine flax, called Blitz, or Byssus. It 
was conducted by certain families of the tribe of Judah*. 

Jeremiah (xiii. 1.) mentions oTnys nt's, " a linen girdle ;" 
Lumbare lineum, Vulgate ; nepi^a \wovv LXX. tnsi tit Jona- 
than ; xifisi Kino (sudarium) iSyriac. 

Hosea (ii. 5. 9.) mentions wool and flax as the two chief ar- 
ticles of clothing for the Jews in his time. 

Ezekiel (xliv. 17, 18.), in his description of the temple which 
he saw in vision, says, the priests on entering the inner court 
would put on linen garments, including a turban and drawers 
of linenf. The use of wool is here prohibited and linen pre- 
scribed for those who were to be engaged in sacred services, on 
account of its superior cleanliness and purity. They were not 
to "gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat." On 
returning to the outer court, so as to be in contact with the 
people, they were to put on the common dress, which was at 
least in part woollen. 

In the Old Testament we also find flax used for making 
cords, Judges xv. xvi. ; for the wicks of lamps, Is. xiii. 17.; 
and for a measuring line, Ezek. xl. 3J. 

According to Herodotus vii. 25, 34, 36, the Phoenicians fur- 
nished Xerxes with ropes of flax for constructing his bridge, 



* Hebr. $!3fi £"rea3>"fi' 1 S FiMBiBft, i. e. " the families, or perhaps the partnerships, 
of the manufactory of Byssus ;" Vulg. " Cognationes domus operantium bys- 
6um." 

t It is remarkable that the Chaldee Paraphrast Jonathan here uses SIS (bys- 
sus) for the Hebrew DViiDB. 

t The use of the cord of flax (lined) for measuring, &c. is the origin of the 
word line. " Linea genere suo appellata, quia ex lino fit." Isidori Hisp. Etymol. 
1. xix. c. 18. De instruments sedificiorum. 



THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 381 

while the Egyptians supplied ropes of Papyrus, which were in- 
ferior to the others in strength. 

Whilst n©s, derived probably from Bias, to strip or peel, is 
used for flax in every state, we find another term, msa, used for 
tow. This term therefore corresponds to Stuppa in Latin* ; 
Etoupe in French ; S™,, ™™ 01 , or anmta, in Greek ; anpno, from 
pita, to comb, in Syriac ; Werg in modern German. 

Eccles. xl. 4. represents poor persons as clothed in coarse linen, 
vpoKvov (Lino crudo, Jerome), meaning probably flax dressed 
and spun without having been steepedf. 

In Rev. xv. 6. the seven angels come out of the temple 
clothed "in pure and white linen? This is to be explained 
by what has been already said of the use of linen for the temple 
service among the Egyptians and the Jews. On three other 
occasions mentioned in the New Testament, viz. the case of 
the young man, who had " a linen cloth cast about his naked 
body" {Mark xiv. 51, 52.) ; the entombment of Christ {Matt 
xxvii. 59. Mark xv. 46. Luke xxiii. 53. xxiv. 12. John 
xix. 40. xx. 5, 6, 7.) ; and the case of the « sheet" let down in 
vision from heaven {Acts x. 11. xi. 5.), the sacred writers employ 
the equivalent Egyptian terms, E„,^„, and '0<w,„ or 'oiw™.,. 

The "Byssus of the Hebrews," mentioned by Pausanias may 
have been so caUed, because it was imported into Greece by the 
Hebrews, not because it grew in Palestine, as many critics have 
concluded. 

Herodotus {I. c.) observes, that the Greeks called the Colchian 
flax EV«,w»fo. The epithet must be understood as referring to 
Sardes, from the vicinity of which city flax was obtained ac- 
cording to the testimony of Julius Pollux {I c). In another 
passage Herodotus remarks (v. 87.), that the linen shift worn 
by the Athenian women, was originally Carian. The Milesian 
Sindones, mentioned by Jonathan, the Chaldee Paraphrast, on 

* The origin of Stuppa, the Latin term, was from its use in stopping chinks 
{stopfer, German). It was either of hemp or flax. 

« Stuppa cannabi est sive lini. Haec secundum antiquam orthographiam stup- 
pa (stipa?) dicitur, quod ex ea rimee navium stipentur : unde et stipatores dicun- 
tur, qui in valhbus earn componunt.'" Isid. Hisp. Orig. xix. 27. 

t See Bodasusa Stapel on Theophrasti Hist. Plant. 1. viii. p. 944. 



382 ANCIENT HISTORY OP 

Lam. ii. 20, were, no doubt, made of the flax of this country, 
although Forster (De Bysso, p. 92.), on account of the celebrity 
of the Milesian wool, supposes them to have been woollen. It 
is probable, that the Milesian net caps, worn by ladies, were 
made of linen thread. 

Jerome, describing the change from an austere to a luxurious 
mode of life, mentions shirts from Laodicea. Some commen- 
tators have supposed linen shirts to be meant. 

According to Julius Pollux (vii. c. 16.) the Athenians and 
Ionians wore a linen shirt reaching to the feet. But the use of 
it among the Athenians must have come in much later than 
among the Ionians, who would adopt the practice in conse- 
quence of the cultivation of flax in their own country as well 
as in their colonies on the Euxine Sea, and also in consequence 
of the general elegance and refinement of their manners. 
Indeed it appears probable, that the linen used by the Athenians 
was imported. 

The only part of Greece, where flax is recorded to have been 
grown, was Elis. That it was produced in that country is 
affirmed by Pliny (l. xix. c. 4.), and by Pausanias in three pas- 
sages already quoted. 

When Colonel Leake was at Gastuni near the mouth of the 
Peneus in Elis, he made the following observations. 

For flax (one of the chief things produced there) the land is once ploughed in 
the spring, and two or three times in the ensuing autumn, with a pair of oxen, 
when the seed is thrown in and covered with the plough. The plant does not 
require and hardly admits of weeding, as it grows very thick. When ripe, it is 
pulled up by the roots, and laid in bundles hi the sun. It is then threshed to sep- 
arate the seed. The bundles are laid in the river for five days, then dried in the 
sun, and pressed in a wooden machine. Contrary to its ancient reputation, the 
flax of Gastuni is not very fine. It is chiefly used in the neighboring islands by 
the peasants, who weave it into cloths for their own use*. 

In one of the Pseudo-Platonic Epistles (No. xiii. p. 363.) 
mention occurs of linen shifts for ladies, made in Sicily, which 
certainly implies nothing more than that linen was woven in 
Sicily. The material for making it may have been imported. 
In like manner the linen of Malta was exceedingly admired 

* Journal of a Tour in the Morea, vol. i. p. 12. 



THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 383 

for its fineness and softness* ; but the raw material was in all 
probability imported. 

"Flax," observes Professor M tiller, "was grown and manu- 
factured in Southern Etruria from ancient times, and thus the 
Tarquinii were enabled to furnish sail-cloth for the fleet of 
Scipio : yarn for making nets was produced on the banks of 
the Tiber, and fine linen for clothing in Faleriit." This ac- 
count agrees remarkably with the views of Micali, and those 
historians who maintain the Egyptian origin of the Etrurians. 

Pliny (xix. 1, 2.) mentions various kinds of flax of superior 
excellence, which were produced in the plains of the Po and 
Ticino ; in the country of the Peligni (in Picenum) ; and about 
Cumee in Campania*. No flax, he says, was whiter or more 
like wool than that of the Peligni. 

In the next chapter Pliny gives an account of the mode of 
preparing flax ; plucking it up by the roots, tying it into bun- 
dles, drying it in the sun, steeping, drying again, beating it with 
a mallet on a stone, and lastly hackling it, or, as he says, 
" combing it with iron hooks." This may be compared with 
the preceding extract from Colonel Leake's Journal, and with 
chapter 97 of Bartholomseus Anglicus, De Proprietabus Rerum, 
which is perhaps partly copied from Pliny and treats of the 
manufacture of flax, steeping it in water, &c, and of its use 
for clothes, nets, sails, thread, and curtains. 

In Spain there was a manufacture of linen at Emporium, 
which lay on the Mediterranean not far from the Pyrenees §. 
According to Pliny (I. c.) remarkably beautiful flax was produ- 
ced in Hispania Citerior near Tarraco. He ascribes its splendor 
to the virtues of the river-water flowing near Tarraco, in which 
the flax was steeped and prepared. Still further southward on 
the same coast we find Setabis, the modern Xativa, which is 
celebrated by various authors for the beauty of its linen, and 
especially for linen sudaria, or handkerchiefs : 

* Diod. Sic. 1. v. 12. torn. i. p. 339. ed. Wesseling. 
t Etrusker. vol. i. p. 235, 236. 

t Probably Cumse is intended by Gratius Faliscus in the expression " jEolise 
de valle Sibyillse." — Cyneg. 35. 

§ Strabo, 1. iii. cap. 4. vol. i. p. 428. ed. Siebenkees. 



384 ANCIENT HISTORY OF 

Setabis et telas Arabum sprevisse superba 
Et Pelusiaco filum componere lino. 

Silius Ital. iii. 373. 
Nam sudaria Setaba ex Hiberis 
Miserunt mihi muneri Fabullus 
Et Veranius. — Catullus, xx. 14. 
Hispanasque alio spectantur Setabis usu. 

Gratius Faliscus, 1. 41. 

Pliny also mentions a kind of flax, called Zoelicum, from a 
place in Gallicia. 

Strabo (iv. 2. 2. p. 41. ed. Sieb.) particularly mentions the 
linen manufacture of the Cadurci : and from them the Romans 
obtained the best ticking for beds, which was on this account 
called Cadurcum. 

Flax, as we are told by Pliny (xix. 1.), was woven into sail- 
cloth in all parts of Gaul ; and, in some of the countries be- 
yond the Rhine, the most beautiful apparel of the ladies was 
linen. Tacitus states that the women of Germany wore linen 
sheets over their other clothing*. 

Jerome mentions the shirts of the Atrebates as one of the 
luxuries of his day, and his notice of them seems to show, that 
they were conveyed as an article of merchandize even into 
Asia. 

Whether the manufactures of the Atrebates were equal to 
the modern Cambric we cannot say ; but, supposing the gar- 
ments in question to have been linen, it is remarkable that this 
manufacture should have flourished in Artois for 1800 yearsf. 

The following translation of a passage from Eginhart's Life 

* Fceminse ssepius lineis amictibus velantur. — Germania, xvii. 5. The use of 
the same term for Flax in so many European languages, and especially in those 
of the North of Europe, is an evidence of the extensive use of this substance in 
very early times ; e. g. Greek, Aivov Latin, Linum ; Slavonian, Len ; Lithua- 
nian, Linnai ; Lettish, Linni ; German, Lein ; French, Suio ; Gothic, and Anglo- 
Saxon, Lin ; Welsh, Llin. 

t Erasmus makes the following remarks on the words " Atrebatum et Laodi- 
ceae :" 

" Apparet ex his regionibus candidissima ac subtilissima linea mitti solere. 
Nunc' hujus laudis principatus, si tamen ea laus, penes meos Hollandos est. Quan- 
quam et Atrebates in Belgis haud ita procul a nobis absunt." 

See also Mannert, Geogr. 2. 1. p. 196. 



THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 385 

of Charlemagne (c. 23.) shows, that during several succeeding 
centuries the Franks wore linen for their under garments. 

Vestitu patrio, hoc est Francisco utebatur : ad corpus camiseam lineam, et fem- 
inalibus lineis induebatur : deinde tunieam, quae limbo serico ambiebatur, et tib- 

ialia Sago Veneto amictus. In festivitatibus veste auro texta, et 

calceamentis gemmatis, et fibula. aure&, sagum astringente, diademate quoque ex 
auro et gemmis ornatus incedebat. Aliis autem diebus habitus ejus parum a com- 
muni et plebeio abhorrebat. 

Charles drest after the manner of his countrymen, the Franks. Next to the 
skin he wore a shirt and drawers of linen : over these a tunic bordered with silk, 
and breeches. His outer garment was the sagum, manufactured by the Veneti. 
On occasion of festivals he wore a garment interwoven with gold, shoes adorned 
with gems, a golden fibula to fasten his sagum, and a diadem of gold and gems 
On other days his dress differed little from that of the common people*. 

The Yeneti here mentioned were, no doubt, the people who 
lived in the country near Vannes in Britany. We have for- 
merly seen (Part Second, pp. 282 and 283. Chapter III.), that 
the Sagum was the principal article of dress manufactured in 
the north of Gaul. 

According to Paulus Diaconus, as quoted in the notes on this 
passage of Eginhartt, the Lombards and the Anglo-Saxons 
used principally linen garments. 

Linen, which appears to have been originally characteristic 
of the Egyptian and Germanic nations, came by degrees into 
more and more general use among the Greeks and Romans, 
and was employed not only for articles of dress, especially those 
worn by women, and for sheets to lie upon, but also for table- 
covers and for napkins to wipe the hands, an application of 
them which was the more necessary on account of the want of 
knives, forks, and spoons. Also those who waited at table, 
were girt with towels. At the baths persons used towels to dry 
themselves. A man wore a similar piece of cloth under the 
hands of the tonsor. Plutarch ( On Garrulity) tells the follow- 
ing anecdote of Archelaus. When a loquacious hair-dresser 
was throwing the w^iivov about him in order to shear him, he 
asked as usual, " How shall I cut your majesty's hair ?" " In 

* The trowsers worn by the Franks were sometimes linen, sometimes made of 
skins. — Agathias ii. 5. 

t Ed. Schmincke, Trajecti 1711, p. 110. 

49 



386 ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE LINEN MANUFACTURE. 

silence" replied the king. Alciphron tells of the barber putting 
on him a linen cloth (owttav) in order to shave him (I. iii. Ep. 
66.) ; and Phaneas, in an Epigram, calls the cloth used in 
shaving by the same name, E^v. Diogenes Laertius also (vi. 
90.) tells a story respecting the philosopher Crates, which shows 
that at Athens it was not deemed proper for a man to wear 
linen as an outer garment, but that persons were enveloped in 
it under the hands of the hair-dresser. " The Athenian police- 
officers (oi daTvoixot) having charged him with wearing a linen sheet 
for his outer garment, he said, ' I will show you Theophrastus 
himself habited in that manner ;' and when they doubted the 
fact, he took them to see Theophrastus at the hair-dresser's." 

Coarser linen was used in great quantity both for sails, and 
for awnings to keep off the heat of the sun from the Roman 
theatres, the Forum, and other places of public resort*. 

The Emperor Alexander Severus, as we learn from the fol- 
lowing passage of his Life written by iElius Lampridius, was a 
great admirer of good linen, and preferred that which was plain 
to such as had flowers or feathers interwoven as practised in 
Egypt and the neighboring countries. 

Boni linteaminis appetitor fuit, et quidem puri, dicens, ' Si lintei idcirco sunt, 
ut nihil asperum habeant, quid opus est purpura V In linea autem aurum mitti, 
etiam dementiam judicabat, quum asperitati adderetur rigor. 

He took great delight in good linen, and preferred it plain. " If," said he, " lin- 
en cloths are made of that material in order that they may not be at all rough, 
why mix purple with them?" But to interweave gold, in linen, he considered 
madness, because this made it rigid in addition to its roughness. 

The following passage of the Life of the Emperor Carinus 
by Flavius Vopiscus is remarkable as proving the value attach- 
ed by the Romans of that age to the linen imported from 
Egypt and Phoenice, especially to the transparent and flowered 
varieties. 

Jam quid lineas petitas iEgypto loquar ? Quid Tyro et Sidone tenuitate per- 
lucidas, micantes purpura, plumandi dimcultate pernobiles ? 

Why should I mention the linen cloths brought from Egypt, or those imported 
from Tyre and Sidon, which are so thin as to be transparent, which glow with 
purple, or are prized on account of their labored embroidery ? 

* See p. 321. 



CHAPTER II. 

HEMP*. 



CULTIVATION AND USES OF HEMP BY THE ANCIENTS— ITS USE LIMITED 
THRACE COLCHIS CARIA ETYMOLOGY OF HEMP. 

The use of Hemp among- the ancients was very limited. It 
is never mentioned in the Scriptures, and not often by the 
heathen writers of antiquity. It is remarkable, that no notice 
is taken of it by Theophrastus. It was however used among 
the Greeks and Romans for making ropes and nets, but not for 
sacks, these being made of goats'-hairt. 

The only reason for introducing hemp in this enumeration 
is, that, according to Herodotus (iv. 74.) garments were made 
of it by the Thracians. " They were so like linen," says he, 
" that none but a very experienced person could tell whether they 
were of hemp or flax ; one, who had never seen hemp, would 
certainly suppose them to be linen." The coarser kinds of 
linen would, it is certain, be scarcely, if at all distinguishable 
from the finer kinds of hempen cloth. 

Hesychius (v. Kaw* pi S ) quotes the preceding remark of He- 
rodotus, only saying that the Thracian women made sheets of 
hemp (</«ma). In substituting these expressions he puts upon 
the words of Herodotus an explanation derived from his famil- 
iar knowledge of Grecian customs. To the present day hemp 
is produced abundantly in the vicinity of the countries which 
were occupied by the ancient Thracians. A traveller who has 
lately visited them, informs us, that " the men who drive the 



* According to a statement in the Western (Missouri) Journal, about 7,000 
bales of hemp, the crop of 1844, was shipped from that place last spring. It is 
thought that 20,000 bales will be raised in that neighborhood this year (1845). 

t See Chap. IV. p. 299, 301. 



388 CULTIVATION AND USES OF 

horses, which drag the boats upon the Danube between Pest 
and Vienna, now wear coarse tunics of hemp*. 

Ammianus Marcellinus (xxxi. 2. p. 474.), speaking of the 
Huns, who lived beyond the Palus Maeotis, says, 

They cover themselves with tunics made of linen, or of the skins of wild mice 
sewed together. 

These tunics, though called " lintea," may have been the 
hempen garments, which, according to Herodotus, were scarce 
to be distinguished from linen. 

The next writer, who mentions hemp after Herodotus, is 
Moschion, rather more than 200 years B. C. He statesf, that 
the magnificent ship Syracusia, built by the command of Hiero 
II., was provided with hemp from the Rhone for making ropes. 
The common materials for such purposes were the Egyptian 
Papyrus, the bark of the Lime-tree, of the Hemp-leaved 
Mallow, and of the Spanish and Portugal Broom, and 
probably also the Stipa Tenacissima of Linnaeus. 

Hemp, as well as flax, was grown abundantly in Colchis}:. 
It was brought to the ports of the iEgean Sea by the Ionian 
merchants, who were intimately connected with the northern 
and eastern coasts of the Euxine through the medium of the 
Milesian colonies. This fact may account for the cultivation of 
hemp in Caria. The best was obtained in the time of Pliny 
(Z. xix. c. 9.) from Alabanda and Mylasain that country. Pliny 
also mentions a kind, which grew in the country of the Sabines, 
and which was remarkable for its height. 

Automedon, who lived a little before Pliny, complains in an 
Epigram of a bad dinner given him by one of his acquaintances, 
and compares the tall stringy cabbages to hemp§. As this 
author was a native of Cyzicus, he would probably have abun- 
dant opportunities of becoming familiar with the plant. 

In the time of Pausanias hemp was grown in Elis. See his 
Eliaca, c. 26. § 4. 

* Travels in Circassia, &c, by Edmund Spencer, 1837, vol. i. p. 13. 

t Apud Athenaeum, 1. v. p. 206. Casaub. 

t Strabo, 1. xi. § 17. vol. iv. p. 402, ed. Siebenkees. 

§ Kawa (Sivrj. Brunck's Analecta, ii. 209. 



HEMP BY THE ANCIENTS. 389 

Dioscorides (I. iii. c. 141.) gives an account of hemp, in which 
he distinguishes between the cultivated and the wild. By 
Wild Hemp he means the Althcese Cannabina, Linn*. He 
observes respecting the Cultivated Hemp, by which he meant 
proper hemp, the Cannabis Sativa, Linn., that it was "of great 
use for twisting the strongest ropes." 

On the whole we may conclude, that hemp was not the 
natural growth either of Italy, Greece, or Asia Minor, but was 
confined, as it still is in a great degree, to countries lying further 
north and having a more rigid climate;. The intimate con- 
nexion of the Romans with the Greek colony of Marseilles 
may have brought it among the Sabines, as the active trade 
between the Euxine and Miletus may have introduced it into 
Caria. With the material its name was also imported, and this 
is substantially the same in all the languages of Europe, as 
well as in many Asiatic tonguest. 



* See Chap. XII. p. 194. 

t Sanscrit, Goni, Sana, or Shanapu ; Persic, Canna ; Arabic, Kanneh, or 
Kinnub ; Greek, Kannabis ; Latin, Cannabis ; Italian, Cannapa ; French, Chan- 
vre, or Chanbre ; Danish and Flamand, Kamp, or Kennep ; Lettish and Lithu- 
anian, Kannapes ; Slavonian, Konopi ; Erse, Canaib ; Scandinavian, Hampr ; 
Swedish, Hampa ; German, Hanf ; Anglo-Saxon, Haenep ; English, Hemp. Our 
English word Canvass (French, Canevas,) has the same origin, meaning cloth 
made of hemp (Canav). 

Hemp is comparatively rare in India, as well as flax ; and, as flax is there 
only used for obtaining oil, so hemp is never used for making cordage or for 
weaving, hut only for smoking on account of the narcotic qualities of its leaves. 
(Wissett on Hemp, p. 20, 25.) Its name Sana, Sunu, or Gonu, is given also to 
the Crotalaria Juncea, which is principally applied by the Indians to the same 
uses as hemp in Europe. See Chap. XIII. p. 202. 

If we compare flax with other spinning materials, such as wool and cotton, we 
shall find it to possess several characteristic properties. While cotton and wool 
are presented by nature in the form of insulated fibres, the former requiring merely 
to be separated from its seeds, and the latter to be purified from dirt and grease 
before being delivered to the spinner, flax must have its filaments separated from 
each other by tedious and painful treatment. In reference to the spinning and 
the subsequent operations, the following properties of flax are influential and im- 
portant : — 

1. The considerable length of the fibres, which renders it difficult, on the one 
hand, to form a fine, level, regular thread, on the other, gives the yarn a consid- 
erably greater tenacity, so that it cannot be broken by pulling out the threads 
from each other, but by tearing them across. 



390 CULTIVATION AND USES OP 

2. The smooth and slim structure of the filaments, which gives to linen its pe- 
culiar polished aspect, and feel so different from cotton, and especially from wool- 
len stuffs, unless when disguised by dressing. The fibres of flax have no mutual 
entanglement, whereby one can draw out another as with wool, and they must 
therefore be made adhesive by moisture. This wetting of the fibres renders them 
more pliant and easier to twist together 

3. The small degree of elasticity, by which the simple fibres can be stretched 
only one twenty -fifth of their natural length before they break, while sheep's wool 
will stretch from one fourth to one half before it gives way. 

Good flax should have a bright silver gray or yellowish color (inclining neither 
to green nor black) ; it should be long, fine, soft, and glistening, somewhat like 
silk, and contain no broad tape-like portions, from undissevered filaments. Tow 
differs from flax in having shorter fibres, of very unequal length, and more or less 
entangled. Hemp agrees in its properties essentially with flax, and must be simi- 
larly treated in the spinning processes. 

The manufacture of linen and hemp yarn, and the tow of either, may be ef- 
fected by different processes ; by the distaff, the hand-wheel, and spinning ma- 
chinery. It will be unnecessary to occupy the pages of this volume with a de- 
scription of the first two well known domestic employments. Spinning of flax by 
machinery has been much more recently brought to a practical state than the 
spinning of cotton and wool by machines, of which the cause must be sought for 
in the nature of flax as above described. The first attempts at the machine spin- 
ning of flax, went upon the principle of cutting the filaments into short fragments 
before beginning the operation. But in this way the most valuable property of 
linen yarn, its cohesive force, was greatly impaired ; or these attempts were re- 
stricted to the spinning of tow, which on account of its short and somewhat tor- 
tuous fibres, could be treated like cotton, especially after it had been further torn 
by the carding engine. The first tolerably good results with machinery seem to 
have been obtained by the brothers Girard at Paris, about the year 1810. But 
the French have never carried the apparatus to any great practical perfection. 
The towns of Leeds in Yorkshire, of Dundee in Scotland, and Belfast in Ireland, 
have the merit of bringing the spinning of flax by machines into a state of perfec- 
tion little short of that for which the cotton trade has been so long celebrated. 

For machine spinning, the flax is sometimes heckled by hand, and sometimes 
by machinery. The series of operations is the following : — 

1. The heckling. 

2. The conversion of the flax into a band of parallel rectilinear filaments, which 
forms the foundation of the future yarn. 

3. The formation of a sliver from the riband, by drawing it out into a narrower 
range of filaments. 

4. The coarse spinning, by twisting the sliver into a coarse and loose thread. 

5. The fine spinning, by the simultaneous extension and twisting of that coar=e 
thread. 

All heckle machines have this common property, that the flax is not drawn 
through them, as in working by hand, but, on the contrary, the system of heckles 
is moved through the flax properly suspended or laid. Differences exist in the 
shape, arrangement, and movements of the heckles, as also in regard to the means 



HEMP BY THE ANCIENTS. 391 

by which the adhering tow is removed from them. The simplest and most com- 
mon construction is to place the heckles upon the surface of a horizontal cylinder, 
while the flax is held either by mechanical means or by the hand during its expo- 
sure to the heckle points. Many machines have been made upon this principle. 
It is proper in this case to set the heckle teeth obliquely in the direction in which 
the cylinder turns, whereby they penetrate the fibres in a more parallel line, effect 
their separation more easily, and cause less waste in torn filaments. To conduct 
the flax upon the cylinders, two horizontal fluted rollers of iron are employed, 
which can be so modified in a moment by a lever as to present the flax more or 
less to the heckling mechanism. The operator seizes a tress lock of flax with her 
hand and introduces it between the fluted rollers, so that the tips on which the 
operation must begin, reach the heckles first, and by degrees the advancing flax 
gets heckled through two thirds or three fourths of its length, after which the tress 
or strick is turned, and its other end is subjected to the same process. By its 
somewhat rapid revolution the heckle cylinder creates a current of air which not 
only carries away the boomy particles, but also spreads out the flax like a sheaf 
of corn upon the spikes, effecting the same object as is done by the dexterous 
swing of the hand. The tow collects betwixt the teeth of the heckle, and may s 
when its quantity has become considerable, be removed in the form of a flock of 
parallel layers. 

Flax has been for a long period spun wet in the mills ; a method no doubt cop- 
ied from the practice of housewives moistening their yarn with their saliva at 
the domestic wheel. Within a few years the important improvement has been 
introduced of substituting hot for eold water, in the troughs through which the 
fibres in the act of spinning pass. By this means a much finer, smoother, and 
more uniform thread can be spun than in the old way. The flax formerly spun 
to twelve pounds a bundle is, with hot water, spun to six. The inconvenience of 
the spray thrown from the yarn on the fliers remains, aggravated by increased 
heat and dampness of the room where this hot process goes on. Being a new ex- 
pedient, it receives daily changes and ameliorations. When first employed, the 
troughs, of hot water were quite open ; they are now usually covered in, so as al- 
most entirely to obviate the objections to which they were previously liable. With 
the covers has been also introduced a new method of piecening or joining on any 
end, which may have been run down, namely, by splicing it to the adjoining ro- 
ving, whereby it is carried through the water without imposing a necessity on the 
spinner to put her hand into the water at all. In some places she uses a wire, 
for the purpose of drawing through the end of the roving to mend a broken yarn. 

This may be considered the inherent evil of flax-spinning, — the spray thrown 
off by the wet yarn, as it whirls abcut with the flier of the spindles. A working 
dress, indeed, is generally worn by the spinners ; but, unless it be made of stuff 
impermeable to water, like Mackintosh's cloth, it will soon become uncomfortable, 
and cause injury to health by keeping the body continually in a hot bath. In 
some mills, water-proof cloth and leather aprons have actually been introduced, 
which are the only practicable remedy ; for the free space which must be left round 
the spindles for the spinner to see them play, is incompatible with any kind of 
fixed guard or parapluie. 



CHAPTER III. 



, ASBESTOS. 

Uses of Asbestos — Carpasian flax — Still found in Cyprus — Used in funerals — As- 
bestine-cloth — How manufactured — Asbestos used for fraud and superstition 
by the Romish monks — Relic at Monte Casino — Further impostures of the 
monks — Remarks thereon. 

Yarro mentions the name Asbestos as a proof, that the cloth 
so called was a Greek invention*. His argument is obviously- 
correct. The term (ao/fcoroj) means inextinguishable, and was 
most properly applied to the wicks of lamps, which were made 
of this substance and were never consumed. 

The fullest account of the properties and uses of Asbestos is 
contained in the following passage from Sotacus, a Greek author 
who wrote on Stonesf. The passage occurs in the Historise 
Commentitiae, attributed to Apollonius Dyscolus (cap. 36). 

The Carystian stone has woolly and colored appendages, which are spun and 
woven into napkins. This substance is also twisted into wicks, which, when 
burnt, are bright, but do not consume. The napkins, when dirty, are not wash- 
ed with water, but a fire is made of sticks, and then the napkin is put into it. 
The dirt disappears, and the napkin is rendered white and pure by the fire, and 
is applicable to the same purposes as before. The wicks remain burning with oil 
continually without being consumed. This stone is produced in Carystus, from 
which it has its name, and in great abundance in Cyprus under rocks to the left 
of ElmBeum, as you go from Gerandros to Soli. — Yates's Translation. 

" At Carystus," says Strabo, " under Mount Ocha in Euboea 
is produced the stone, which is combed and woven so as to make 
napkins (x ci P 6 i iaKT P a ) or handkerchiefs. When these have become 
dirty, instead of being washed, they are thrown into a flame 
and thus purinedt." 

* De Lingua Lat. L. v. p. 134. ed. Spengel. 

t Sotacus is several times quoted by Pliny (L. xxxvi., xxxvii.) as a foreign 
writer on Stones. 

X Lib. x. p. 19. ed. Sieb. 



tISES OF ASBESTOS. 393 

Plutarch speaks in similar terms of napkins, nets, and head- 
dresses, made of the Carystian stone, but says, that it was no 
longer found in his time, only thin veins of it, like hairs, being 
discoverable in the rock*. 

Mr. Hawkins ascertained, that the rock, which was quarried 
in Mount Ocha, now called St. Elias, above Carystus, is the 
Cipolino of the Roman antiquariesf. Further north in the 
same island Dr. Sibthorp observed " rocks of Serpentine in beds 
of saline marble, forming the Yerdantique of the ancientsf :'» 
and he states, that on the shore to the north of Negropont 
" the rocks are composed of serpentine stone with veins of as- 
bestos and soapstone intermixed^" Tournefort speaks of 
Amiantus as brought from Cays.o in his time, but of inferior 
quality ||. 

Pausanias (i. 26. 7.) says, the wick of the golden lamp which 
was kept burning night and day in the temple of Minerva 
Polias at Athens, was " of Carpasian flax, the only kind of 
flax which is indestructible by fire." This " Carpasian flax" 
was asbestos from the vicinity of Carpasus, a town near the 
north-east corner of Cyprus, which retains its ancient name. 
Carp as. 

Dioscorides (L. v. c. 93.) gives a similar account of the quali- 
ties and uses of Amiantus, and says it was produced in Cyprus!". 

Majolus says**, that in the year 1566 he saw at Venice Podo- 
cattarus, a knight of Cyprus, and a writer on the history of that 
island, who exhibited at Venice cloth made of the asbestos of 
his country, which he threw into the fire, and took it out unin- 
jured and made quite clean. 

Referring to Cyprus, Sonnini ( Voyage en Grece, i. p. 66.) 
says, 

L'amiante, asbestos, ou lin incombustible des anciens, est encore aussi abon- 

* De Oraculorum Defectu, p. 770. ed. H. Stephani, Par. 1572. 

t Travels in various Countries of the East, edited by Walpole, p. 288. 

t Ibid. p. 37. 

§ Ibid. p. 38. — N. B. Asbestos is always found in rocks of Serpentine. 

H Voyage, English Translation, vol. i. p. 129. 

IT See p. 392. 

** Dier. Canicular. Part I. Collog. xx. p. 453. 



394 USES OP ASBESTOS. 

dant qu'il le fut autrefois ; la carriers qui le fournit est dans la montagne d'Aka- 
mantide, pres du cap Chromachiti. 

Le talc est commun, surtout pres de Larnaca, oil on l'emploie a blanchir les 
maisons ; et le platre a de nombreuses carrieres. 

The " talc " may be the same with the " Lapis specularis," 
which was found in Cyprus, according to Pliny (xxxvi. 45.). 
The testimony of Sonnini so far agrees with those of the 
ancients, that all the places mentioned were on the northern 
side of the island, so that the asbestos seems to have been 
found between Solse towards the West and Carpas towards the 
East. 

Pietro della Valle, when he was at Larnaca, was presented 
with a piece of the amiantus of the country, but says that it 
was no longer spun and woven. 

Pliny, if we can rely upon his testimony as given in the ex- 
isting editions of his works, states, that Asbestos was obtained 
in Arcadia (H. N. xxxvii. 54.) and in India. 

" A kind of flax has been discovered which is incombustible by fire. It is 
called live flax ; and we have seen napkins of it burning upon the hearth at en- 
tertainments, and, when thus deprived of their dirt, more resplendent through the 
agency of fire than they could have been by the use of water. The funeral shirts 
made of it for kings preserve the ashes of the body separate from those of the rest 
of the pile. It is produced in deserts and in tracts scorched by the Indian sun, 
where there are no showers, and among dire serpents, and thus it is inured to live 
even when it is burnt. It is rare, and woven with difficulty on account of the 
shortness of its fibres. That variety which is of a red color becomes resplendent 
in the fire. When it has been found it equals the prices of excellent pearls. It is 
called by the Greeks Asbestine Flax, on account of its nature. Anaxilaus re- 
lates, that if a tree surrounded with cloth made of it be beaten, the strokes are 
not heard. On account of these properties this flax is the first in the world. The 
next in value is that made of byssus, which is produced about Elis in Achaia, 
and used principally for fine female ornaments. I find that a scruple of this flax, 
as also of gold, was formerly sold for four denarii*. The nap of linen cloths, ob- 
tained chiefly from the sails of ships, is of great use in surgery, and their ashes 
have the same effect as spodium. There is a certain kind of poppy the use of 
which imparts the highest degree of whiteness to linen cloths." — Pliny, Lib. xix. 
ch. 4. 

Besides the manufacture of napkins, this description exactly 
agrees with the accounts of Strabo, Sotacus, Dioscorides, and 

* i. e. eighteen grains of this flax were worth 2s. lOdf. stg., being equal in value 
to its weight in gold. 



USES OF ASBESTOS. 395 

Plutarch. Pliny's account of the use of this material in fune- 
rals has been remarkably confirmed by the occasional discovery 
of pieces of asbestine cloth in the tombs of Italy. One was 
found in 1633 at Puzzuolo, and was preserved in the Barberini 
gallery*. Another was found in 1702 a mile without the gate 
called Porta Major in Rome. We have an account of the dis- 
covery in a letter written from Rome at the time, and appended 
to Montfaucon's Travels through Italy. A. marble sarcophagus 
having been discovered in a vineyard was found to contain the 
cloth, which was about 5 feet wide, and 6J long. It contained 
a skull and the other burnt bones of a human body. The 
sculptured marble indicates, that the deceased was a man of rank. 
He is supposed to have lived not earlier than the time of Con- 
stantine. This curious relic of antiquity has been preserved in 
the Vatican Library since the period of its discovery, and Sir 
J. E. Smith, who saw it there, gives the following description 
of its appearance : — 

It is coarsely spun, but as soft and pliant as silk. Our guide set fire to one 
corner of it, and the very same part burnt repeatedly with great rapidity and 
brightness without being at all injuredt. 

Also in the Museo Barbonico at Naples there is a considerable 
piece of asbestine cloth, found at Vasto in the Abruzzi, the an- 
cient Histonium. 

Hierocles, the historian, as quoted by Stephanus Byzantinus, 
gives the following account of the Asbestos of India : — 

The Braclimans use cloth made of a kind of flax, which is obtained from 
rocks. Webs are produced from it, which are neither subject to be consumed by 
fire nor cleansed by water, but which, after they have become full of dirt and 
stains, are rendered clear and white by being thrown into the fire. 

The following testimonies illustrate the fact, recorded by 
both Hierocles and Pliny, that Asbestos was obtained from 
India. 

Marco Polot mentions, that incombustible cloth was woven 
from a fibrous stone found at Chenchen in the territory of the 

* Keyslers Travels, vol. ii. p. 292. London 1760. 
t Tour on the Continent, vol. ii. p. 201. 
X Marsden's Translation, p. 176. 

50 



396 USES OF ASBESTOS. 

Great Khan. It was pounded in a brass mortar ; then washed 
to separate the earthy particles ; spun and woven into cloth ; 
and cleansed, when dirty, by being thrown into the fire. 

Bugnon, in his Relation Exacte concemant les Caravanes 
(Nancy, 1707, p. 37-39.) mentions, that Amiantus was found 
in Cyprus and on the confines of Arabia. He says, they spun 
it and made stockings, socks, and drawer's, which fitted close- 
ly ; that over these they wore their other garments ; and that 
they were thus protected from the heat in travelling with the 
caravans through Asia. 

Basil, Bishop of Csesarea, shows that he was acquainted with 
the properties of this substance, by comparing the three chil- 
dren cast into the fiery furnace without being hurt (Dan. iii.) 
to Asbestos, "which, when put into the fire seems to burn and 
to be turned to ashes, but, when taken out, becomes purer and 
brighter than it was before*." 

Damasus (in iSilvestro Papa) mentions, that the Emperor 
Constantine directed asbestos to be used for the wicks of the 
lamps in his baptistery at Rome. 

For further particulars respecting the places where amiantus 
is procured, and the mode of preparing it for the manufacture 
of cloth, we refer to the treatises of mineralogists and to the 
Essays of Ciampini, Tilingius, Mahudel, and Bruckmann on 
this particular subject. We are informed, that it is softened and 
rendered supple by being steeped in oil, and that fibres of flax 
are then mixed with it in order that it may be spun. When 
the cloth is woven, it is put into the fire, by which the flax and 
oil are dissipated, and the asbestos alone remainsf. 

Ignorance of the true nature of Asbestos caused it to be em- 
ployed in the dark ages for purposes of superstition and relig- 
ious fraud. Of this we have a proof in the following account 



* Homilia de Jejunio, p. 111. 

t Tournefort's Travels, vol. i. p. 129. Bruckmann, Hist. Nat. Lapidis. Bruns- 
wic. 1727. p. 31, 32. This author says the asbestos was put into warm water, 
and there rubbed and turned about. An earth separates from it, which makes 
the water as white as milk. This is repeated five or six times. The fibres, thus 
purified, are spread out to dry. 



USES OP ASBESTOS. 397 

which we find in the Chronicon Casinense of Leo Ostiensis, 
L. ii. c. 33. 

His diebus Monachi quidam ab Jerusolymis venientes particulam lintei, cum quo 
pedes discipulorum Salvator extersit, secum detulerunt, et ob reverentiam sancti 
hujus loci devotissime hie obtulerunt, sexto scilicet Idus Decembris ; sed, cum a 
plurimis super hoc nulla fides adhiberetur, illi fide fidentes protinus prsedictam par- 
ticulam in accensi turibuli igne desuper posuerunt, quae mox quidem in ignis colo- 
rem conversa, post paululum vero, amotis carbonibus, ad pristmam speciem mi- 
rabiliter est reversa. Cumque excogitarent qualiter, vel quanam in parte pignora 
tanta Iocarent, contigit, dispositione divina, ut eodem ipso die, transmissus sit in 
hunc locum loculus ille mirificus, ubi nunc recondita est ipsa lintei sancti particula, 
argento et auro gemmisque Anglico opere subtiliter ac pulcherrime decoratus. Ibi 
erg6 christallo superposito venerabiliter satis est collocata : morisque est singulis 
annis, ipso die Coena? Dominica? ad mandatum Fratrum earn a Mansionariis de- 
ferri et in medium poni, duoque candelabra ante illam accendi et indesinenter per 
totum mandati spatium ab Acolito incensari. Demum verb juxta finem mandati 
a singulis per ordinem fratribus flexis genibus devotissime adorari et reverenter 
exosculari. 

There is no good reason to doubt the truth of this narrative 
so far as respects the veracity and credit of the historian. Leo 
Ostiensis became an inmate of the Abbey of Monte Casino a 
few years after the event is said to have happened, and could 
scarcely be misinformed respecting- the circumstances, more es- 
pecially as he held during- the latter part of his abode there the 
office of Librarian. There is nothing improbable in the story. 
Asbestine cloth, as we have learnt from Marco Polo, was man- 
ufactured in Asia during the middle ages, and the reputed relic 
was obtained at Jerusalem. That the pilgrims, who visited 
Jerusalem, should be imposed upon in this manner, is in the 
highest degree probable, since we are informed, that the very 
same substance in its natural state was often sold to devotees 
AS THE WOOD OF THE TRUE CROSS, and its in- 
combustibility was exhibited as the proof of its genuineness. 
This we learn in the following passage from Tilingius, who 
wrote " De lino vivo aut asbestino et incombustibili." 

Antonius Musa Brassavolus Ferrariensis tradit, impostores lapidem Amiantum 
simplicibus mulierculis ostendere vendereque saspenumero pro ligno crusis Serva- 
toris nostri. Id quod facile eredunt, cum igne non comburatur, quodque ligni mo- 
do plurimis constet lineis intercur santibus. — Miscellanea Curiosa Natures Curi- 
osorum, Decuria ii. Ann. ii. p. 111. Norembergee, 1684. 



398 USES OF ASBESTOS. 

The monks on their arrival at Monte Casino would natural- 
ly display the same evidence, by which they themselves had 
been convinced ; and the appearance of the cloth, when put 
into the fire and taken out of it, is described exactly as it 
would be in fact, supposing it to have been made of amiantus. 

Montfaucon, in his Travels in Italy (p. 381. English ed. 
Svo.), describes a splendid service-book, which was written A. D. 
1072 by Leo at the expense of brother John of Marsicana, and 
presented by John to the Monastery of Monte Casino, where it 
was exhibited to Montfaucon as one of the most valuable and 
curious monuments. An illumination in this book represents a 
monk kneeling before St. Benedict, the patron and founder 
of the institution, and holding in his hands a cloth, on which 
St. Benedict is placing his left foot. Montfaucon gives an en- 
graving from this picture : he supposes the cloth to be a monk's 
cowl, and conjectures that it was thus used in admitting novices. 
This explanation is evidently a most unsatisfactory one, nothing 
being produced to render it even probable. We believe the 
cloth to be that the history of which has just now been given, and 
that the design of the artist was to represent a monk wiping 
the feet of St. Benedict with the same cloth with which Jesus 
wiped the feet of his disciples. 

This supposition will appear the more probable if we attend 
to the date of the MS. (A. D. 1072) and the persons, by whom 
and at whose expense it was written. " Brother John of Mar- 
sicana" appears to have been at this time advanced in years, 
wealthy, and highly respected, since we are informed, that in 
the year 1055, when Peter was chosen Abbot of the Monas- 
tery, some of the brotherhood wished to choose John, although 
he, foreseeing that the choice would be likely to fall on him, had 
obstinately sworn on the altar, that he would never undertake 
the office. John was at this time provost of Capua*. Seven- 
teen years afterwards he went to the expense of providing the 
service-book seen by Montfaucon. He employed as his scribe 
one of the fraternity, who was his junior and from the same 



* Dominum Johannem, cognomine Marsicanum, qui tunc Capuas erat propo- 
situs, &c. — Leonis Ostiensis Chronicon Casinense, L. ii. c. 92. 



USES OF ASBESTOS. 399 

city with himself. For there can be scarcely a doubt, but that 
Leo, who wrote the MS., was the same who was the author of 
the Chronicon. The author of the Chronicon, at the com- 
mencement of his history, calls himself " Frater Leo, cogno- 
mine Marsicanus*". He was made Bishop of Ostia A. D. 1101, 
so that we may suppose him to have been twenty or thirty 
years of age, when the MS. was made. Of his aptitude for 
such an employment we cannot doubt, when we consider his 
future labors as Librarian and author of the Chronicle. But 
if these facts be evident, it is equally manifest, that these two 
accomplished Benedictines could not have expressed their ven- 
eration towards their founder in any way better suited to their 
ideas and belief than by exhibiting in the manner described 
that relic, WHICH WAS SOLEMNLY DISPLAYED 
ONCE A YEAR WITH BURNING CANDLES AND 
ATTENDING ACOLYTHES TO THE ADMIRING 
AND ADORING CROWD OF DEVOTEES. 

On inquiry it is found that this relic exists no longer at 
Monte Casino, although the original copy of the Chronicon of 
Leo Ostiensis is still preserved in the Library f. It appears that 
the relic has long been lost, since there is no mention either of 
it, or of the casket which contained it in the " Descrizione Is- 
torica del Monastero di Monte Casino, Napoli, 1775." 

A large glove of this substance is in the Hunterian Museum 
at Glasgow. An English traveller states that he has lately seen 
at Parma a table-cloth, made of Amiantus from Corsica, for 
the use of the ex-Empress Maria Louisa, who resided there 
after the fall of Napoleon. 

In modern times cloth of asbestos is scarcely made. Indeed 
it is not probable that this material will ever be obtained in 
much abundance, or that it will cease to be a rarity except in 
the places of its production. It is never seen in Great Britain, 
or on the continent, save in the cabinets of the curious. 



* Marsicana (civitas) was in Marsica, the territory of the ancient Marsi. 
t Excursions in the Abruzzi, by the Hon. Keppel Craven, vol. i. p. 54. 



The annexed Map (Plate VII.) is designed to indicate the 
divisions of the Ancient World as determined by the Raw 
Materials principally produced and employed in them for 
weaving. 

The Red division produced Sheeps'-Wool and Goats'-Hair : 
also Beavers'- Wool in the portion of this division, which lies to 
the North of the Mediterranean Sea, and of the rivers Padus 
and Ister : and Camels'- Wool and Camels'-Hair in the portion 
lying South-East of a line drawn through the coast of Syria. 
The nations to the North of this division clothed themselves in 
skins, furs, and felt. 

The Yellow at the Eastern corner indicates the commence- 
ment of the vast Region, unknown to the Ancients, the 
inhabitants of which clothed themselves in Silk. 

The Green indicates the countries, all low and bordering on 
rivers, in which the cloth manufactured was chiefly Linen. 

The Brown is designed to show the cultivation of Hemp in 
the low country to the North of the Euxine Sea, and probably 
in other places, North of the Red division, which were adapted 
for its growth. 

Lastly, the Blue, which is the colour of the Baharein Isles 
and of India, shows that the inhabitants of these countries 
have from time immemorial clothed themselves in Cotton. 



APPENDICES, 

APPENDIX A. 

ON PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. 

Sheep and wool — Price of wool in Pliny's time — Varieties of wool and where pro- 
duced — Coarse wool used for the manufacture of carpets — Woollen cloth of 
Egypt — Embroidery — Felting — Manner of cleansing — Distaff of Tanaquil — 
Varro — Tunic — Toga — Undulate or waved cloth— Nature of this fabric — Fig- 
ured cloths in use in the days of Homer (900 B. C.) — Cloth of gold — Figured 
cloths of Babylon — Damask first woven at Alexandria — Plaided textures first 
woven in Gaul — $150,000 paid for a Babylonish coverlet — Dyeing of wool in the 
fleece- — Observations on sheep and goats — Dioscurias a city of the Colchians — 
Manner of transacting business. 

LIB. VIII. c. 47s. 72. 50s. 76.* 

"We are also much indebted to sheep both in sacrifices to propitiate the gods, 
and in the use of their fleeces. As oxen produce by cultivation the food of men, 
so we owe to sheep the protection of our bodies There are two prin- 
cipal kinds of sheep, the covered and the common. The former is softer, the lat- 
ter more delicate in feeding, inasmuch as the covered feeds on brambles. Its 
coverings are chiefly of Arabic materials. 

" The most approved wool is the Apulian, and that which is called the wool 
of Greek sheep in Italy, and the Italic wool in other places. The third kind in 
value is that obtained from Milesian sheep. The Apulian wools have a short 
staple, and are only celebrated for making pasnulas. They attain the highest 
degree of excellence about Tarentum and Canusium. In Asia wools of the same 
kind are obtained at Laodicea. No white wool is preferred to those which are 
produced about the Po, nor has a pound ever yet exceeded a hundred sesterces 
(about $3,60.). Sheep are not shorn everywhere : in certain places the practice 
of pulling off the wool continues. There are various colors of wool, so that we 
want terms to denote all. Spain produces some of those varieties which we call 
native; Pollentia, near the Alps, furnishes the chief kinds of black wool; Asia 

* The edition here followed is that of Sillig, Lipsite, 1831-6, 5 vols., 12mo. 

51 



402 on pliny's natural history. 

and Baetica those ruddy varieties called Erythrean ; Canusium a sandy-colored* 
wool ; and Tarentum one of a dark shade peculiar to that locality. New-shorn 
greasy wools have all a medicinal virtue. The wool of Istria and Liburnia being 
more like hair than wool, is unsuitable for making the cloths which have a long 
nap. This is also the case with the wool of Salacia in Lusitania ; but the cloth 
made from it is recommended by its plaided pattern. A similar kind is pro- 
duced about Piscense (i. e. Pezenas), in the province of Narbonne, and likewise 
in Egypt, the woollen cloth of which country, having been worn by use, is em- 
broidered and lasts some time longer. The coarse wool with a thick staple was 
used in very ancient times for carpets : at least Homer (900 B. C.) speaks of , 
the use of it. The Gauls have one method of embroidering these carpets, and 
the Parthians another. Portions of wool also make cloth by being forced to- 
gether by themselves^. With the addition of vinegar these also resist iron, nay 
even fires, which are the last expedient for purging them ; for, having been taken 
out of the caldrons of the polishers, they are sold for the stuffing of beds, an in- 
vention made, I believe, in Gaul, certainly in the present day distinguished by 
Gallic names : for in what age it commenced I could not easily say, since the 
ancients used beds of straw, such as are now employed in camps. The cloths 
called gausapa began to be used within the memory of my father ; those called 
amphimalla within my own, (See Part First, p. 30,) as well as the shaggy cov- 
erings for the stomach, called ventralia. For the tunic with the laticlave is now 
first beginning to be woven after the manner of the gausapa. The black wools 
are never dyed. Concerning the dyeing of the others we shall speak in their 
proper places, in treating of sea-shells or the nature of herbs. 

" M. Varro says, that the wool continued to his time upon the distaff and spindle 
of Tanaquil, also called Caia Csecilia, in the temple of Sangus ; and that there re- 
mained in the temple of Fortune a royal undulate toga made by her, which Servius 
Tullius had worn. Hence arose the practice of carrying a distaff with wool upon 
it, and a spindle with its thread, after virgins who were going to be married. She 
first wove the straight tunic, such as is worn by tiros together with the toga 
pura, and by newly-married women. The undulate or waved cloth was origin- 
ally one of the most admired ; from it was derived the soriculatet. Fenestrella 
writes, that scraped and Phryxian togas came into favor about the end of the 



* This term is adopted as the best translation of the Latin fulvus, which, as 
well as the corresponding Greek adjective i-avdd;, denoted a light yellowish-brown. 
Hence it was so commonly applied to the light hair, which accompanies a light 
complexion and often indicates mental vivacity, and which has consequently been 
always considered beautiful. Hence also it was used to denote the appearance 
of the Tiber and other rivers, when they were rendered turbid by the quantity of 
sand suspended in their waters. — See Fellows's Discoveries in Lycia. 

t See Appendix C. 

t It is probable that soriculate cloth was a kind of velvet, or plush, so called 
from its resemblance to the coat of the field-mouse, sorex, dim. soricula. So- 
riculata may have been changed into sororiculata by repeating or at the begin- 
ning of the word. 



on pliny's natural history. 403 

reign of the Divine Augustus. The thick poppied togas are of remoter origin, be-i 
sng noticed even so far back as by the poet Lucilius in his Torquatus. The toga 
prmtexta was invented among the Etruscans. I find evidence that kings wore 
the striped toga*, that figured cloths were in use even in the days of Homer : 
and that these gave rise to the triumphal. To produce this effect with the nee- 
dle was the invention of the Phrygians, on which account cloths so embroidered 
have been called Phrygionic. In the same part of Asia king Attalus (see Part 
I. p. 88.) discovered the art of inserting a woof of gold : from which circumstance 
the Attalic cloths received their name. Babylon first obtained celebrity by its 
method of diversifying the picture with different colors, and gave its name to 
textures of this description. But to weave with a great number of leashes, so as to 
produce the cloths called polymita (i. e. damask cloths), was first taught in Alex- 
andria ; to divide by squares (i. e. plaids) in Gaul. Metellus Scipio brought it as 
an accusation against Cato, that even in his time Babylonian coverlets for triclinia 
were sold for 800,000 sesterces ($30,000), although the emperor Nero lately 
gave for them no less than 4,000,000 sesterces (about $150,000). The pratexta 
of Servius Tullius, covering the statue of Fortune which he dedicated, remained 
until the death of Sejanus, and it is wonderful that they had neither decayed of 
themselves nor been injured by the worms of moths through the space of 560 
years. We have, moreover, seen the fleeces of living sheep dyed with purple, 
with the coccus, or the murex, in pieces of bark a foot and a half long, luxury 
appearing to force this upon them as if it were their nature. 

" In the sheep itself the excellence of the breed is sufficiently shown by the 
shortness of the legs and the clothing of the belly. Those which have naked 
bellies used to be called apices, and were condemned. The tails of the Syrian 
sheep are a cubit broad, and in that part they bear a great quantity of wool. It 
is thought premature to castrate lambs before they are five months old. In Spain, 
but especially in Corsica, there is a race of animals called musmons, resembling 
sheep, except that their covering is more like goats' -hair. The ancients called 
the mixed breed of sheep and musmons Umhri. Sheep have a very weak head, 
on which account they are obliged to turn from the sun in feeding. They arc 
most foolish animals. Where they have been afraid to enter, they follow one 
dragged along by the horn. They live ten years at the longest, but in ^Ethiopia 
thirteen years. Goats live there eleven years, and in other countries eight at the 

mos t In Cilicia and about the Syrtes, goats have a shaggy 

coat, which admits of being shorn." 

LIB. VI. c. 5. 

" The remaining shores are occupied by savage nations, as the Melanchlaeni 
and Coraxi, Dioscurias, a city of the Colchians, near the river Anthemus, being 
now deserted, although formerly so illustrious, that Timosthenes has recorded that 
three hundred nations used to resort to it, speaking different languages ; and that 
business was afterwards transacted on our part through the medium of one hun- 
dred and thirty interpreters." 



* The too-a worn by the kings and other supreme magistrates among the Ro- 
mans was called trabea from the stripes, which were compared to tho joists or 
rafters of a building {trabes). 



404 ON THE ORIGIN AND MANUFACTURE OF 



APPENDIX B. 

ON THE ORIGIN AND MANUFACTURE OF LINEN AND 
COTTON PAPER. 



THE INVENTION OF LINEN PAPER PROVEN TO BE OF EGYPTIAN ORIGIN, 
COTTON PAPER MANUFACTURED BY THE BUCHARIANS AND ARABI- 
ANS, A. D. 704. 

Wehrs gives the invention of Linen paper to Germany — Schonemann to Italy — 
Opinion of various writers, ancient and modern — Linen paper produced in 
Egypt from mummy-cloth, A.D. 1200 — Testimony of Abdollatiph — Europe 
indebted to Egypt for linen paper until the eleventh century — Cotton paper — 
The knowledge of manufacturing, how procured, and by whom — Advantages 
of Egyptian paper manufacturers — Clugny's testimony — Egyptian manuscript 
of linen paper bearing date A. D. 1100 — Ancient water-marks on linen paper 
— Linen paper first introduced into Europe by the Saracens of Spain — The 
Wasp a paper-maker — Manufacture of paper from shavings of wood, and from 
the stalks or leaves of Indian-corn. 

No part of the Res Diplo?natica has been more frequently 
discussed than the question respecting the origin of paper made 
from linen rags. The inquiry is interesting on account of the 
unspeakable importance of this material in connection with the 
progress of knowledge and all the means of civilization, and it 
also claims attention from the philologist as an aid in determining 
the age of manuscripts. 

Wehrs refers to a document written A. D. 1308 as the oldest 
known specimen of linen paper ; and, as the invention must 
have been at least a little previous to the preparation of this 
document, he fixes upon 1300 as its probable date*. Yarious 
writers on the subject, as Yon Murr, Breitkopf, Schonemann, 
&c, concur in this opinion. 

Gotthelf Fischer, in his Essay on Paper-markst, cites an 

* Vom Papier, p. 309, 343. 

t This Essay, translated into French, is published by Jansen, in. his Essai sui 
l'origine de la gravure en bois et en taille-douce, Paris 1808, tome i. p. 357-385. 



LINEN AND COTTON PAPER. 405 

extract from an account written in 1301 on linen paper. In 
this specimen the mark is a circle surmounted by a sprig - , at the 
end of which is a star. The paper is thick, firm, and well 
grained ; and its water-lines and water-marks (vergures et 
pontuseaux) may readily be distinguished. 

The date was carried considerably higher by Schwandner, 
Principal Keeper of the Imperial Library at Vienna, who found 
among the charters of the Monastery of Goss in Upper Stiria 
one in a state of decay, only seven inches long and three wide. 
So highly did he estimate the value of this curious relic as to 
publish in 1788 a full account of his discovery in a thin quarto 
volume, which bears the following title, " Chart am lint earn 
antiqirissimam, omnia hactenns producta specimina cetate 
sua superantem, ex cimeliis Bibliothecce. Augusta Vindobo- 
nensis exponit Jo. Ge. Schwandner" fyc. The document is a 
mandate of Frederick II. Emperor of the Romans, entrusting 
to the Archbishop of Saltzburg and the Duke of Austria the 
determination of a dispute between the Duke of Carinthia and 
the Monastery of Goss respecting the property of the latter in 
Carinthia. Schwandner proves the date of it to be 1243. He 
does not say whether it has any lines or water-mark, but is quite 
satisfied from its flexibility and other qualities, that it is linen. 
Although on the first discovery of this document some doubt 
was expressed as to its genuineness, it appears to have risen in 
estimation with succeeding writers ; and we apprehend it is 
rather from inadvertence than from any deficiency in the evi- 
dence, that it is not noticed at all by Schonemann, Ebert, 
Delandine, or by Home. Due attention is, however, bestowed 
upon it by August Friedrich Pfeiffer Tiber Bucher-Hand- 
schriften, Brlangen 1810, p. 39, 40. 

With regard to the circumstances which led to the invention 
of the paper now in common use, or the country in which it 
took place, we find in the writers on the subject from Polydore 
Virgil to the present day nothing but conjectures or confessions 
of ignorance. Wehrs supposes, and others follow him, that in 
making paper linen rags were either by accident or through 
design at first mixed with cotton rags, so as to produce a paper, 
which was partly linen and partly cotton, and that this led by 



406 ON THE ORIGIN AND MANUFACTURE OF 

degrees to the manufacture of paper from linen only*. Wehrs 
also endeavors to claim the honor of the invention for Germany, 
his own country ; but Schonemann gives that distinction to 
Italy, because there, in the district of Ancona, a considerable 
manufacture of cotton paper was carried on before the fourteenth 
centuryt. All however admit, that they have no satisfactory 
evidence on the subject. 

A clear light is thrown upon these questions by a remark of 
the Arabian physician, Abdollatiph, who visited Egypt A. D. 
1200. He informs us+, " that the cloth found in the catacombs, 
and used to envelope the mummies, was made into garments, 
or sold to the scribes to make paper for shop-keepers." 
Having shown (See Part IY. Chapter I.) that this cloth was 
linen, the passage of Abdollatiph, therefore, may be considered 
as a decisive proof, which, however, has never been produced 
as such, of the manufacture of linen paper as early as the 
year 1200. 

This account coincides remarkably with what we know from 
various other sources. Professor Tychseil, in his learned and 
curious dissertation on the use of paper from Papyrus (publish- 
ed in the Commentationes Reg. iSoc. Gottingetisis Recenti- 
ores, vol. iv. A. D. 1820), has brought abundant testimonies to 
prove that Egypt supplied all Europe with this kind of 
paper until towards the end of the eleventh century. The 
use of it was then abandoned, cotton paper being employed in- 
stead. The Arabs in consequence of their conquests in 
Bucharia had learnt the art of making cotton paper about the 
year 704, and through them or the Saracens it was introduced 



* Vom Papier, p. 183. t Diplomatik, vol . i. p. 494. 

% Chapter iv. p. 188 of Silvestre de Sacy's French translation, p. 221 of Wahl's 
German translation. This interesting passage was translated as follows by Ed- 
ward Pococke, the younger : — " Et qui ex Arabibus, incolisve Rifae, aliisve, has 
areas indagant, haec integumenta diripiunt, quodque in iis rapiendum invenitur ; 
et conficiunt sibi vestes, aut ea chartariis vendunt ad conficiendam chartam em- 
pore aticam." 

Silvestre de Sacy (Notice, &c), animadverting on White's version which is 
entirely different, expresses his approbation of Pococke's, from which Wahl's does 
not materially differ. 



LINEN AND COTTON PAPER. 407 

into Europe in the eleventh century*. We may therefore con- 
sider it as in the highest degree probable, that the mode of 
making cotton paper was known to the paper-makers of Egypt. 
At the same time endless quantities of linen cloth, the best of 
all materials for the manufacture of paper, were to be obtained 
from the catacombs. 

If we put together these circumstances, we cannot but per- 
ceive how they conspire to illustrate and justify the statement 
of Abdollatiph. We perceive the interest which the great 
Egyptian paper-manufacturers had in the improvement of their 
article, and the unrivalled facilities which they possessed for 
this purpose ; and thus, we apprehend, the direct testimony of 
an eye-witness of the highest reputation for veracity and intel- 
ligence, supported as it is by collateral probabilities, clears up in 
a great measure the long-agitated question respecting the origin 
of paper such as we now commonly use for writing. 

The evidence being carried thus far, we may take in connec- 
tion with it the following passage from Petrus Cluniacensis : — 

Sed cojusmodi librum ? Si talem quales quotidie in usu legendi habemus, uti- 
que ex pellibus arietum, hircorum, vel vitulorum, sive ex biblis, vel juncis orien- 
talium pallidum, aut ex rasuris veteram pannorum, seu ex qualibet alia forte vili- 
ore materia compactos, et pennis avium vel calamis palustrium locorum, qualibet 
tinctura infeetis descriptos. — Tractatus adv. JudcBos, c. v. hfMax. Bibl. vet. 
Patrum, torn. xxii. p. 1014. 

All ' the writers upon this subject, except Trombelli, suppose 
the Abbot of Clugny to allude in the phrase " ex rasuris vete- 
rum pannorum" to the use of woollen and cotton cloth only, 
and not of linen. But, as we are now authorized to carry up 
the invention of linen paper higher than before, and as the 
mention of it by Abdollatiph justifies the conclusion that it was 
manufactured in Egypt some time before his visit to that country 
in 1200, we may reasonably conjecture that Petrus Cluniacen- 
sis alluded to the same fact. The treatise above quoted is 
supposed to have been written A. D. 1120. The account of 
the materials used for making books appears to be full and ac- 



* Wehrs vom Papier, p. 131, 144, Note. Breitkopf, p. 81. 



408 ON THE ORIGIN AND MANUFACTURE OF 

curate. The expression " scrapings of old cloths" agrees ex- 
actly with the mode of making paper from linen rags, but is 
not in accordance with any facts known to us respecting the 
use of woollen or cotton cloth. The only objection against this 
view of the subject is, that, as Peter of Clugny had not when 
he wrote this passage travelled eastward of France, we can 
scarcely suppose him to have been sufficiently acquainted with 
the maimr's and productions of Egypt to introduce any allu- 
sion to their newly invented mode of making paper. But we 
know that the Abbey of Clugny had more than 300 churches, 
colleges, and monasteries dependent on it, and that at least two 
of these were in Palestine and one at Constantinople. The 
intercourse which must have subsisted in this way between the 
Abbey of Clugny and the Levant, may account for the Abbot 
Peter's acquaintance with the fact. It is therefore probable that 
he alludes to the manufacture of paper in Egypt from the 
cloth of mummies, which on this supposition had been invented 
early in the twelfth century*. 

Another fact, which not only coincides with all the evidence 
now produced, but carries the date of the invention still a little 
higher, is the description of the manuscript No. 787, contain- 
ing an Arabic version of the Aphorisms of Hippocrates, in 
Casiri's Bibliotheca Arabico-Hispana JSscurialensis, torn. i. 
p. 235. This MS. was probably brought from Egypt, or the 
East. It has a date corresponding to A. D. 1100, and is of 
linen paper according to Casiri, who calls it " Chartaceus." 

" Codices chartacei," i. e. MSS. on linen paper, as old as the 
thirteenth century, are mentioned not unfrequently in the Cat- 
alogues of the Escurial, the Nani, and other libraries. Joseph 
Brooks Yates, Esq. F. S. A., of West Dingle near Liverpool, is 
in possession of a fine MS. of some of the Homilies of Chrys- 
ostom, written in all probability not later than the thirteenth 
century. It is on linen paper, with the water-lines perfectly dis- 
tinct in both directions. The water-mark is a tower, the size and 



* Gibbon says (vol. v. p. 295, 4to edition), " The inestimable art of transform- 
ing linen into paper has been diffused from the manufacture of Samarcand over 
the Western world." This assertion appears to be entirely destitute of foundation. 



LINEN AND COTTON PAPER. 409 

form of which are shown in Plate IX. Fig. 18. From the ap- 
pearance of this paper, it is probable that the form or mould 
may perhaps have been made of thin rods of cane or some 
other vegetable. These rods, however, may have been metal- 
lic. They were placed so close, that of the water-lines pro- 
duced by them 17 may be counted in the space of an inch, the 
water-lines at right angles to these being one inch and a quar- 
ter apart. 

The preceding facts coincide with the opinion long ago ex- 
pressed by Prideaux, who concluded that linen paper was an 
Eastern invention, because "most of the old MSS. in Arabic 
and other oriental languages are written on this sort of paper," 
and that it was first introduced into Europe by the Saracens of 
Spain*. 

A few observations, by way of concluding this part of the 
subject, may here be properly bestowed upon the material with 
which the wasp-family construct their nests. 

The wasp is a paper-maker, and a most perfect and intelli- 
gent one. While mankind were arriving, by slow degrees, at 
the art of fabricating this valuable substance, the wasp was 
making it before their eyes, by very much the same process as 
that by which human hands now manufacture it with the 
best aid of chemistry and machinery. While some nations 
carved their records on wood, and stone, and brass, and leaden 
tablets,, — others, more advanced, wrote with a style on wax, — 
others employed the inner bark of trees, and others the skins of 
animals rudely prepared, — the wasp was manufacturing a firm 
and durable paper. Even when the papyrus was rendered more 
fit, by a process of art, for the transmission of ideas in writing. 
The paper of the papyrus was formed of the leaves of the plant, 
dried, pressed, and polished ; the wasp alone knew how to 
reduce vegetable fibres to a pulp, and then unite them by a 
size or glue, spreading the substance out into a smooth and 
delicate leaf. This is exactly the process of paper-making. It 
would seem that the wasp knows, as the modern paper-makers 

* Old and New Testament connected, Part I. chapter 7. p. 393, 3rd edition, 
folio. 

52 



410 ON THE ORIGIN AND MANUFACTURE OF 

now know, that the fibres of rags, whether linen or cotton, are 
not the only materials that can be used in the formation of 
paper ; she employs other vegetable matters, converting them 
into a proper consistency by her assiduous exertions. In some 
respects she is more skilful even than our paper-makers, for she 
takes care to retain her fibres of sufficient length, by which she 
renders her paper as strong as she requires. Many manufac- 
turers of the present day cut their material into small bits, and 
thus produce a rotten article. One great distinction between 
good and bad paper is its toughness ; and this difference is 
invariably produced by the fibre of which it is composed being 
long, and therefore tough ; or short, and therefore friable. 

The wasp has been laboring at her manufacture of paper, 
from her first creation, with precisely the same instruments and 
the same materials ; and her success has been unvarying. Her 
machinery is very simple, and therefore it is never out of order. 
She learns nothing, and forgets nothing. Men, from time to 
time, lose their excellence in particular arts, and they are slow 
in finding out real improvements. Such improvements are 
often the effect of accident. Paper is now manufactured very 
extensively by machinery, in all its stages ; and thus, instead of 
a single sheet being made by hand, a stream of paper is poured 
out, which would form a roll large enough to extend round the 
globe, if such a length were desirable. The first experimenters 
on paper machinery in England, Messrs. Fourdrinier, it is said, 
spent the enormous sum of 40,000Z. in vain attempts to render 
the machine capable of determining the width of the roll ; and, 
at last, accomplished their object at the suggestion of a bystander, 
by a strap revolving upon an axis, at a cost of three shillings 
and sixpence ! Such is the difference between the workings of 
human knowledge and experience, and those of animal instinct. 
We proceed slowly and in the dark — but our course is not 
bounded by a narrow line, for it seems difficult to say what is 
the perfection of any art ; animals go clearly to a given point — 
but they can go no further. We may, however, learn some- 
thing from their perfect knowledge of what is within their range. 
It is not improbable that if man had attended in an earlier 
state of society to the labors of wasps, he woidd have sooner 



LINEN AND COTTON PAPER. 41] 

known how to make paper. We are still behind in our arts 
and sciences, because we have not always been observers. If 
we had watched the operations of insects, and the structure of 
insects in general, with more care, we might have been far 
advanced in the knowledge of many arts which are yet in their 
infancy, for nature has given us abundance of patterns. We 
have learnt to perfect some instruments of sound by examining 
the structure of the human ear ; and the mechanism of an 
eye has suggested some valuable improvements in achromatic 
glasses. 

Reaumur has given a very interesting account of the wasps 
of Cayenne {Charter gus nidulans), which hang their nests in 
trees*. Like the bird of Africa called the social grosbeak {Loxia 
socio), they fabricate a perfect house, capable of containing 
many hundreds of their community, and suspend it on high out 
of the reach of attack. But the Cayenne wasp is a more expert 
artist than the bird. He is a pasteboard-maker /—and the 
card with which he forms the exterior covering of his abode is 
so smooth, so strong, so uniform in its texture, and so white that 
the most skilful manufacturer of this substance might be proud 
of the work. It takes ink admirably ! 

The nest of the pasteboard-making wasp is impervious to 
water. It hangs upon the branch of a tree, and those rain- 
drops which penetrate through the leaves never rest upon its 
hard and polished surface. A small opening for the entrance 
of the insects terminates its funnel-shaped bottom. It is 
impossible to unite more perfectly the qualities of lightness and 
strength. 

Mr. J. Rennie, speaking of wasps' nests, gives us the following 

interesting account of one lately examined by him : " The 

length," says he, " is about nine inches, six stout circular plat- 
forms stretch internally across, like so many floors, and fixed all 
round to the walls of the nest. They are smooth above, with 
hexagonal cells on the under surface. These platforms are not 
quite flat, but rather concave above, like a watch-glass reversed ; 

* Memoires sur les Insectes, torn, vi., mem. vii. See also Bonnet, vol. ix. 



412 ON THE ORIGIN AND MANUFACTURE OP 

the centre of each platform is perforated for the admission of 
the wasps, at the extremity of a short funnel-like projection, and 
through this access is gained from story to story. On each 
platform, therefore, can the wasps walk leisurely about, attend- 
ing to the pupse secured in the cells, which, with the mouths 
downward, cover the ceiling above their heads — the height of 
the latter being just convenient for their work." 

Pendent wasps'-nests of enormous size are found in Ceylon, 
suspended often in the talipot-tree at the height of seventy feet. 
The appearance of these nests thus elevated, with the larger 
leaves of the tree, used by the natives as umbrellas and tents, 
waving over them, is very singular. Though no species of 
European wasp is a storer of honey, yet this rule does not apply 
to certain species of South America. In the " Annals and 
Magazine of Natural History" for June, 1841, will be found a 
detailed account, with a figure of the pendent nest of a species 
termed by Mr. A. White Myraptera scutellaris. The external 
case consists of stout cardboard covered with conical knobs of 
various sizes. The entrances are artfully protected by pent- 
roofs from the weather and heavy rains ; and are tortuous, so 
as to render the ingress of a moth or other large insect difficult. 
Internally are fourteen combs, exclusive of a globular mass, 
the nucleus of several circular combs, which are succeeded 
by others of an arched form — that is, constituting segments of 
circles. 

Good writing, printing and wrapping paper, may be procured 
from the shavings of common wood. The wood must be 
reduced to shavings by the ordinary jack-plain shaving size. 
The shavings are then placed in a cistern or boiler sufficiently 
large, and covered with water, which should be raised to the 
boiling-point. To every one hundred pounds of the wood so 
reduced, from twelve to eighteen pounds of alkali, either vege- 
table or mineral, is to be added, in proportion to its quality for 
strength. If salts are used they should be reduced before 
coming in contact with the wood. The salts may, however, be 
put in with the water and wood before reduction, but the first 
method is the most preferable. Should lime be used, there must 



LINEN AND COTTON PAPER. 413 

be a sufficient, in all cases, to equal twelve pounds of pure black 
salts. One hundred pounds of wood will, if well attended to, 
make from five to seven reams of paper*. 

* Mr. Edmund Shaw, of Fenchurch Street, London, obtained a patent in En ff - 
and bearing date September 14, 1837, for a method of manufacturing paper from 
the leaves which cover the ears of Indian-corn. 

According to this patent the envelopes or leaves which cover the corn are in 
the first instance put into a vessel containing water. The water may be pure or 
digit fly alkaline ; the water is then boiled in the vessel into which the aforesaid 
envelopes or felhcular leaves are thrown, after being macerated. When they 
have imbibed water and become thickened and swollen, so that the matter inter- 
posed between the fibres is reduced to a state of pulp or jelly, a slight beating by 
fulling mallet, or other mechanical means will effect a separation of the fibre 
trom the adherent glutinous matter, and washing or rinsing with water during the 
beating, will cleanse it entirely from the glutinous matter. 

The fibre is then bleached, by immersing, or immersing and beating or stirring 
it about m a solution of chloride of lime, or with beating engines, as at present 
practised for the bleaching of rags in paper mills, and the fibre is in like manner 
reduced to pulp, and paper manufactured therefrom, or the quality of the paper 
may be varied by the admixture of a portion of rags or other filamentous sub- 
stance. 

It may be well to remark, that some attempts to produce paper from the above 
mentioned material, have been made, but were abandoned from the incapability 
oi producing good white paper. 

The patentee claims the mode, or process, above described of making white pa- 
per by the application of bleached pulp, produced from the stalks or leaves of In- 
dian-corn. 



414 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF 

APPENDIX C. 

ON FELT. 

MANUFACTURE AND USE OF FELTING BY THE ANCIENTS. 

Felting more ancient than weaving — Felt used in the East — Use of it by the 
Tartars — Felt made of goats' -hair by the Circassians — Use of felt in Italy and 
Greece — Cap worn by the Cynics, Fishermen, Mariners, Artificers, &c. — 
Cleanthes compares the moon to a skull-cap — Desultores — Vulcan — Ulysses — 
Phrygian bonnet — Cap worn by the Asiatics — Phrygian felt of Camels' -hair — 
Its great stiffness — Scarlet and purple felt used by Babylonish decorators — 
Mode of manufacturing Felt — Northern nations of Europe — Cap of liberty — 
Petasus — Statue of Endymion — Petasus in works of ancient art — Hats of Thes- 
saly and Maoedonia — Laconian or Arcadian hats — The Greeks manufacture 
Felt 9 jO B. C. — Mercury with the pileus and petasus — Miscellaneous uses of 
Felt. 

There seems no reason to question the correctness of Pro- 
fessor Beckmann's observation*, that the making of felt was in- 
vented before weavingt. The middle and northern regions of 
Asia are occupied by Tartars and other populous nations, whose 
manners and customs appear to have continued unchanged 
from the most remote antiquity %, and to whose simple and uni- 
form mode of existence this article seems to be as necessary as 
food. Felt is the principal substance both of their clothing and 
of their habitations. Carpini, who in the year 1246 went as 
ambassador to the great Khan of the Moguls, Mongals, or 
Tartars, says, " Their houses are round, and artificially made 
like tents, of rods and twigs interwoven, having a round hole 
in the middle of the roof for the admission of light and the pas- 
sage of smoke, the whole being covered with felt, of which 



* Anleitung zur Technologie, p. 117, Note. 

t See Gilroy's Treatise on the Art of Weaving, p. 14. 

X Malcolm's Hist, of Persia, ch. vi. vol. i. pp. 123, 124. 



Plate JW. 




FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 415 

likewise the doors are made*? Very recently the same ac- 
count of these "portable tents of felt" has been given by Julius 
von Klaprotht. Kupffer says of the Caratchai, " Leurs larges 
manteaux de feutre leur servent en meme terns de matelas et 
de couverturet" The large mantle of felt, here mentioned, is 
used for the same purpose in the neighboring country of Cir- 
cassian One of these mantles now in the possession of Mr. 
Urquhart was made of black goats'-hair, and had on the out- 
side a long shaggy villus. The Circassians sleep under this 
mantle by night, and wear it, when required, over their other 
dress by day. A similar article is thus described by Colonel 
Leakell : the postillions in Phrygia " wear a cloak of white 
camels'-hair, half an inch thick, and so stiff that the cloak 
stands without support, when set upright on the ground. There 
are neither sleeves nor hood ; but only holes to pass the hands 
through, and projections like wings upon the shoulders for the 
purpose of turning off the rain. It is the manufacture of the 
country." The Chinese traveller, Chy Fa Hian, who visited 
India at the end of the fourth century, says, that the people of 
Chen Chen, a kingdom in a mountainous district situated about 
the Lake of Lob, wore dresses like those of the Chinese, except 
that they made use of felt and stuffs [du feutre et des etoffes^). 
In conformity with the prevailing use of this manufacture in 

* Kerr's Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. i. p. 128. See also p. 167, 
where the same facts are related by William de Rubruquis. 

The account which Herodotus gives (iv. 23) of the habitations of the Argipprei 
evidently alludes to customs similar to those of the modern Tartars. He says, 
" They live under trees, covering the tree in winter with strong and thick undyed 
felt (tuAco GTsyvio \evKu), and removing the felt in summer." Among the ceremo- 
nies observed by the Scythians in burying the dead, Herodotus also mentions the 
erection of' three stakes of wood, which were surrounded with a close covering of 
woollen felt (iv. 73). Also, in the next section but one (iv. 75.) there is an evi- 
dent allusion to the practice of living under tents made of felt (i-oSivovat virdrovs 

TTlXoVs). 

t Reise in dem Kaucasus und nach Georgien, ch. vi. p. 161. 
t Voyage dans les Environs du Mont Elbrouz. St. Petersburg, 1829, 4to, 
p. 20. 

§ Travels in Circassia, by Edmund Spencer. 

|| Journal of a Tour in Asia Minor, p. 38. 

H Ch. ii. p. 7, of Remusat's Translation Par. 1836, 4to. 



416 MANUFACTURE AND USE OP 

the colder regions of Asia, scarlet or purple felt (such as that 
lately re-invented at Leeds, in England), was used by the 
Babylonish decorators for the drapery of the funeral pile, when 
Alexander celebrated the splendid obsequies of Hepheestion : for 
so we must understand the expression Qoivudfe n-iXW (Diod. Sic. 
xvii. 115. p. 251, Wess.). Xenophon (Cycrop. v. 5. § 7.) 
mentions the use of felt manufactured in Media, as a covering 
for chairs and couches. The Medes also used bags and sacks 
of felt (Atheneeus, 1. xii. p. 540 c. Casaub.). 

The process, by which wool is converted into felt, was called 
by the Greeks 7riAij<r« (Plato de Leg. 1. viii. p. 115. ed. Bek- 
ker), literally a compression, from iriMu, to compress*. The 
ancient Greek scholion on the passage of Plato here referred 

tO thus explains the term : ILXtjo-eojs' rrj; Sia rrj; rwv Ipiwv ttuki/uo-sus 

yivopivjis £<70>7roy, i. e. " cloth made by the thickening of wool." 
With this definition of felt agrees the following description of a 
jrcra<7os in a Greek epigram, which records the dedication of it to 
Mercury : — 

Sot tov TrihnBivTa Si' cv^avTov rpt%dg a\ivov, 
'Ep/ia, KaXXireXijj tKpijiaae mraaov. 

Brunck, Anal. ii. 41. 

The art of felting was called h m\nrueh (Plato, Polit. ii. 2. p. 296, 
ed. Bekker). According to the ancient Greek and Latin glos- 
saries, and to Julius Pollux (vii. 30), a felt-maker, or hatter, was 
TfiXoTi-oids or mXwTOTroio?, in Latin coactiliarius. From m\os [dim. 
iriXiov, second dim. inXWioy), the proper term forfeit in general, 
derived from the root of ™Xs«, came the verb *nX<So>, signifying to 
felt, or to make felt, and from this latter verb was formed the 
ancient participle ^Xuros, felted, which again gave origin to 

7n\(OTOiroi6s. 

It may be observed, that our English word felt is evidently 
a participle or a derivative, and that its verb or root Fel ap- 
pears to be the same with the root of mXta. 

The Latin cogo, which was used, like the Greek jrtXew, to de- 

* Xenophanes thought that the moon was a compressed cloud (yfyo; irei:ikriiie.vov, 
Stohaei Eclog. i. 27. p. 550, ed. Heeren) ; and that the air was emitted from the 
earth hy its compression (niXriais, i. 23. p. 484). 



FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 417 

note the act of compressing, or forcing the separate hairs to- 
gether, gave origin to the participle coactus, and its derivative 
coactilis. Pliny (H. N. viii. 48. s. 73.), after speaking of 
woven stuffs, mentions in the following terms the use of wool 
for making felt : " Lanse et per se coactee (al. coactam) vestem 
ficiunt," i. e. " Parcels of wool, driven together by themselves, 
make cloth." This is a very exact, though brief description of 
the process of felting. The following monumental inscription 
(Gruter, p. 648, n. 4.) contains the title Lanarius coactiliarius, 
meaning a manufacturer of woollen felt : — 

M. Ballorius M. L. Lariseus, Lanarius coactiliarius, 

CONJUGA CARISSIM.E B. M. FEC. 

Helvius Successus, the son of a freed man, and the father 
of the Roman emperor Pertinax, was a hatter in Liguria 
(tabemam coactiliariam in Liguria exercuerat, Jul. Cap. 
Pertinax, c. 3.). Pertinax himself, being fond of money, hav- 
ing the perseverance expressed by his agnomen, and having 
doubtless, in the course of his expeditions into the East, made 
valuable observations respecting the manufacture which he 
had known from his boyhood, continued and extended the 
same business, carrying it on and conveying his goods to a dis- 
tance by the agency of slaves. The Romans originally receiv- 
ed the use of felt together with its name* from the Greeks 
(Plutarch, Numa, p. 117, ed. Steph.). The Greeks were ac- 
quainted with it as early as the age of Homer, who lived about 
900 B. C. (II. x. 265), and Hesiod (Op. et Dies, 542, 546). 

The principal use of felt among the Greeks and Romans 
was to make coverings of the head for the male sex, and the 
most common cover made of this manufacture was a simple 
skull-cap, i. e. a cap exactly fitted to the shape of the head, as 
is shown in Plate VIII. fig. 1. taken from a sepulchral bas-relief 
which was found by Mr. Dodwell in Boeotiat. The original is 
as large as life. The person represented appears to have been 
a Cynic philosopher. He leans upon the staff (baculus, 



* Pileus or Pileum (Non. Marc, iii., pilea virorum sunt, Servius in Virg. Mn, 
ix. 616.), dim. Pileolus or Pileolum (Colum. de Arbor. 25). 
t Tour through Greece) vol. i. pp. 242, 243. 

53 



418 MANUFACTURE AND USE OP 

P&Krpov, aKrjTTTpop) ; he is clothed in the blanket (pallium, x Xa ~ l,a j 
rptfav) with one end, which is covered, over his left breast, and 
another hanging behind over his left shoulder ; he wears the 
beard (barba, ™yuv) ; his head is protected by the simple skull- 
cap (pileus, niXos). All these were distinct characteristics of 
the philosopher, and more especially of the Cynic*. The dog 
also probably marked his sect. Leonidas of Tarentum, in his 
enumeration of the goods belonging to the Cynic Posocharest, 
including a dog-collar (kwovxov), mentions, ko.\ nT\ov Kt(j>a\ss ov^ daia; 
cKtTravov, i. e. " The cap of felt, which covered his unholy head." 
This passage may be regarded as a proof, that among the 
Greeks, though not among the Romans, the cap of felt was 
worn by very poor men. It also proves that this cap, which 
was the f ess of the modern Greeks, was worn by philosophers,, 
and therefore throws light on a passage of Antiphanes (ap. 
Athen. xii. 63. p. 545 a) describing a philosopher of a different 
character, who was very elegantly dressed, having a small cap 
of fine felt (m\tiiov arra\6v), also a small white blanket, a beautiful 
tunic, and a neat stick. When Cleanthes advanced the doc- 
trine, that the moon had the shape of a skull-cap (m\ociStj r£ 
axfyar', Stobaei Eel. Phys. 1. 27. p. 554, ed. Heeren), he proba- 
bly intended to account for its phases from its supposed hemis- 
pherical form. A cap of a similar form and appearance, though 
perhaps larger and not so closely fitted to the crown of the 
head, was worn by fishermen!. In an epigram of Philippus§, 
describing the apparatus of a fisherman, the author mentions 
m\ov appuprivov viaaiaatyti^ " the cap encompassing his head and 
protecting it from wet." Figure 2. in Plate YIII. represents a 
small statue of a fisherman belonging to the Townley Collection 
in the British Museum. His cap is slightly pointed and in a 
degree, which was probably favorable to the discharge of water 
from its surface. Hesiod recommends, that agricultural laborers 
should wear the same defence from cold and showers (Op. et 

* See the articles Baculus, Barba, Pallium, p. 703, in Smith's Diet, of Greek 
and Roman Antiquities. 

t Brunck, Anal. i. p. 223. Nos. x. xi. t Theoerit. xxi. 13. 

§ Brunck, Anal. ii. p. 212. No. v. 



FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 419 

Dies, 545-547). The use of this cap by seamen was no 
doubt the ground, on which the painter Nicomachus represented 
Ulysses wearing one. " Hie primus/' says Pliny (H. N. xxxv. 
36. s. 22.), « Ulyssi addidit pileum*." For the same reason the 
cap is an attribute of the Dioscuri ; and hence two caps with 
stars above them are often shown on the coins of maritime 
cities and of others where Castor and Pollux were worshipped. 
Figure 3. of Plate VIII. is taken from a brass coin of Dioscurias 
in Colchis, preserved in the British Museum. On the reverse 
is the name AIOEKOYPIAAOE. Figure 4. represents both sides 
of a silver coin in the same collection, with the legend 
bpettiqn. It belongs to Bruttium in South Italy. On the 
one side Castor and Pollux are mounted on horseback. They 
wear the chlamys and carry palm branches in then hands. 
Their caps have a narrow brim. The reverse shows their 
heads' only, and their caps, without brims, are surrounded by 
wreaths of myrtle. The cornucopia is added as an emblem 
of prosperity. Figure 5. is from a brass coin of Amasia 
(AMAEEEIAE) in Pontus. It shows the cornucopia between the 
two skull-caps. Charon also was represented with the mar- 
iner's or fishermen's cap, as, for example, in the bas-relief in the 
Museo Pio-Clementino, torn. iv. tav. 35, and the painted vase 
in Stackelberg's Graber der Hellenen, t. 47, 48, which is 
copied in Becker's Charicles, vol. ii. taf. i. fig. 1, and in Smith's 
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, p. 404. 

A pileus of the same general form was worn by artificers ; 
and on this account it was attributed to Vulcan and to Dadalus, 
who, as well as Ulysses and Charon, are commonly found 
wearing it in works of ancient art. Arnobius says, that Vul- 
can was represented " cum pileo et malleo"— " fabrili expedi- 
tione succinctus ;" and that on the other hand Mercury was 
represented with the petasus, or « petasunculus," on his headf . 

* Compare Eustathius in Horn. II. x. 265, as quoted below. 

t Adv. Gentes, lib. vi. p. 674, ed. Erasmi. When Lucian ludicrously represents 
Jupiter wearing a skull-cap, which we may suppose to have been like that of the 
philosopher in Plate VIII. figure 1. he must have intended to describe the " Father 
of gods and men" as a weak old man ; Aiette rr,v K ^a\hv Kanvsyicwv K a\ d yetf 
6 Ti-rAos avrtaxc, K al to noXii rf}y nXvyrjs dmii^aTO, &C. Dial. Deor., vol. ii. p. 314. ed. 
Hemster 



420 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF 

This observation is confirmed by numerous figures of these 
two divinities, if we suppose the term petasus, which will be 
more fully illustrated hereafter, to have meant a hat with a 
brim, and pileus to have denoted properly a fessor cap without 
a brim. 

Fig. 6. Plate VIII. is taken from a small bronze statue of 
Vulcan in the Royal Collection at Berlin. He wears the exo- 
mis, and holds his hammer in the right hand and his tongs in 
the left. For other specimens of the head-dress of Vulcan the 
reader is referred to the Museo Pio-Cleme?itino, t. iv. tav. xi., 
and to Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 
p. 589. 

Plate VIII. is intended still further to illustrate some of the 
most common varieties in the form of the ancient skull-cap. 
Figure 7. is a head of Vulcan from a medal of the Aurelian 
family*. Figure 8. is the head of Daedalus from a bas-relief, 
formerly belonging to the Villa Borghese, and representing the 
story of the wooden cow, which he made for Pasiphaef. Fig. 
10. is from a cameo in the Florentine collection. Fig. 9. is 
the head of a small bronze statue, wearing boots and the 
exomis, which belonged to Mr. It. P. Knight, and is now 
in the British Museum. It is engraved in the "Specimens 
of Ancient Sculpture published by the Society of Dilettanti," 
vol. i. pi. 47. The editors express a doubt whether this 
statue was meant for Vulcan or Ulysses, merely because the 
god and the hero were commonly represented wearing the 
same kind of cap. Not only does the expression of counte- 

* Montfaucon, Ant. Expl. t. i. pi. 46. No. 4. 

t Winckelmann, Mon. Ined. ii. 93. The skull-cap, here represented as worn 
by Daedalus, is remarkably like that which is still worn by shepherd boys in Asia 
Minor. Fig. 12, in Plate VIII. is copied from an original drawing of such a Gre- 
cian youth, procured by Mr. George Scharf who accompanied Mr. Fellows on his 
second tour into that country. 

According to Herodotus the Scythians had felted coverings for their tents, a 
custom still found among their successors, the Tartars. Felting appears to have 
preceded weaving. It is certainly a much ruder and simpler process : and, when 
we consider both the long prevalence of the art among the pastoral inhabitants of 
the ancient Scythia, and the extensive use of its products among them so as to be 
employed even for their habitations, perhaps we shall be right in considering felt- 
ing as the appropriate invention of this people. 



FELT BY THE ANCIETS. 421 

nance decide the question ; but also the small bronze of Mr. 
Knight's collection agrees in attitude and costume with many- 
small statues of Vulcan, who is represented in all of them 
wearing the exomis, holding the hammer and tongs, and hav- 
ing the felt cap on his head*. Fig. 11. is another representa- 
tion of Ulysses from an ancient lamp! . It exhibits him tied to 
the mast, while he listens to the song of the Sirens. The cap 
in this figure is much more elongated than in the others. 

The felt cap was worn not only by desultores, but by others 
of the Romans upon a journey, in sickness, or in cases of unu- 
sual exposure. Hence Martial says in Epig. xiv. 132, entitled 
" Pileus," 

Si possem, totas cuperem misisse lacernas : 
Nunc tantum capiti munera mitto tuo. 
i. e. 

O that a whole lacerna I could send ! 
Let this (I can no more) your head defend. 

The wig (galerus) answered the same purpose for the wealthy 
classes (arrepto pileo vel galero, Sueton. Nero, 26), and the 
cucullus and cado for both rich and poor. On returning home 
from a party, a person sometimes carried his cap and slippers 
under his arm (Hor. Epist. 1. xiii. 15). 

The hats worn by the Saliif are said by Dionysius of Hali- 
carnassus to have been " tall hats of a conical formi" Plu- 
tarch distinctly represents them as made of felt. He says (I. 
c), that the flamines were so called quasi pilamines, because 
they wore felt hats, and because in the early periods of Roman 
history it was more common to invent names derived from the 
Greek. On coins, however, this official cap of the Salii and 
Flamines is commonly oval like that attributed to the Dioscuri. 
We observe indeed continual variations in the form of the pi- 

* Montfaucon, Ant. Expl. vol. i. pi. 46. figs. 1. 2. 3 ; Mus. Florent. Gemmce 
Ant. a Gorio illustrate, torn. ii. tab. 40. fig. 3. 

t Barton, Lucerne Antiche, P. III. tab. 11. There is a beautiful figure of 
Ulysses in Pictures Antiques Virgiliani cod. Bill. Vat. a Bartoli, tab. 103, taken 
from a gem. In Winckelmann, Mon. Ined. ii. No. 154, he is represented giving 
wine to the Cyclops : this figure is copied in Smith's Diet. p. 762. 

t Smith's Diet, of Gr. and R. Antiquities, art. Apex. 

§ Ant. Rom. L. ii. 



422 MANUFACTURE AND USE OP 

leus from hemispherical to oval, and from oval to conical. A 
conical cap is seen on the head of the reaper in the wood-cut to 
the article Flax in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman 
Antiquities, which wood-cut is taken from a coin of one of the 
Lagidse, kings of Egypt. Caps, regularly conical and still 
more elongated, are worn by the buffoons or comic dancers, 
who are introduced in an ancient mosaic preserved in the Villa 
Corsini at Rome*. Telephus, king of Mysia, is represented as 
wearing a " Mysian capt." This " Mysian cap" must have 
been the same which is known by the moderns under the name 
of the Phrygian bonnet, and with which we are familiar 
from the constant repetition of it in statues and paintings of 
Priam, Paris, Ganymedel, Atys, Perseus, and Mithras, and in 
short in all the representations not only of Trojans and Phryg- 
ians, but of Amazons and of all the inhabitants of Asia Minor, 
and even of nations dwelling still further to the East. Also, 
when we examine the works of ancient art which contain rep- 
resentations of this Mysian cap, we perceive that it was a cone 
bent into the form in which it is exhibited, and so bent, perhaps 
by use, but more probably by design. This circumstance is 
well illustrated in a bust of Parian marble, supposed to be in- 
tended for Paris, which is preserved in the Gbyptotek at Munich. 
A drawing of it is given in Plate Till. fig. 13. The flaps of 
the bonnet are turned up and fastened over the top of the head. 
The stiffness of the material is clearly indicated by the sharp 
angular appearance of that portion of it which is turned for- 
wards. Mr. Dodwell, in his Tour in Greece (vol. i. p. 134), 
makes the following observations on the modern costume, which 
seems to resemble the ancient, except that the ancient tt:\o S and 
m\iSiov were probably of undyed wool : — " The Greeks of the 
maritime parts, and particularly of the islands, wear a red or 
blue cap of a conical form, like the pilidion. When it is new 
it stands upright, but it soon bends, and then serves as a pocket 



* Bartoli, Luc. Ant. P. I. tab. 35. t Aristoph. Adam. 429. 

X Stuart, in his Antiquities of Athens, vol. iii. ch. 9. plates 8, 9, has engraved 
two beautiful statues of Telephus and Ganymede from a ruined colonnade at 
Thessalonica. In these the cap is very little pointed. 



FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 423 

for the handkerchief, and sometimes for the purse. Others 
wear the red skull-cap, or fess." The Lycians, as we are in- 
formed by Herodotus (viii. 92), wore caps of felt, which were 
surrounded with feathers. Some of the Lycian coins and bas- 
reliefs, however, show the " Phrygian bonnet," as it is called, 
in the usual form*. 

The cap worn by the Persians is called by Greek authors 
Kvpfiaata or ndpaf, and seems to have had the form now under con- 
sideration. Herodotus, when he describes the costume of the 
Persian soldiers in the army of Xerxes, says, that they wore 
light and flexible caps of felt, which were called tiaras. He 
adds, that the Medes and Bactrians wore the same kind of cap 
with the Persians, but that the Cissii wore a mitra instead (vii. 
61, 62, 64). On the other hand he says, that the Sacee wore 
cyrbasicB, which were sharp-pointed, straight, and compact. 
The Armenians were also called "weavers of felt" (Brunck, 
Anal. ii. p. 146. No. 22). The form of their caps is clearly 
shown in the coins of the Emperor Yerus, one of which, pre- 
served in the British Museum, is engraved in Plate VIII. fig. 14. 
The legend, surrounding his head, L. Vervs. Avg. Armeni- 
acvs, refers to the war in Armenia. The reverse shows a fe- 
male figure representing Armenia, mourning and seated on the 
ground, and surrounded by the emblems of Roman warfare and 
victory. The caps represented on this and other coins agree 
remarkably with the forms still used in the same parts of Asia. 
Strabo (L. xi. p. 563, ed. Sieb.) says, that these caps were 
necessary in Media on account of the cold. He calls the Per- 



* Fellows's Discoveries in Lycia, Plate 35. Nos. 3, 7. The " Phrygian bon- 
net" is seen in the bas-reliefs brought from Xanthns by this intelligent traveller, 
and now deposited in the British Museum. 

t Herod, v. 49. According to Moeris, v. Kvp/Wa, this was the Attic term, 
Tiaaa meaning the same thing in the common Greek. Plutarch applies the latter 
term to the cap worn by the younger Cyrus : 'Amr'nTTd Si rrjs K£<pa\rjs h napa rov 
Kipov. — Artaxerxes, p. 1858. ed. Steph. 

The " Phrygian bonnet" is called Phrygia tiara in the following lines of an 
epitaph (op. Gruter. p. 1123) : 

Indueris teretes manicas Phrygiamque tiaram ? 
Non unus Cybeles pectore vivet Atys. 



424 MANUFACTURE AND USE OP 

sian cap "felt in the shape of a tower" (L. xv. p. 231). The 
king of Persia was distinguished by wearing a stiff cyrba- 
sia, which stood erect, whereas his subjects wore their tiaras 
folded and bent forwards.* Hence in the Aves of Aristophanes 
the cock is ludicrously compared to the Great King, his erect 
comb being called his "cyrbasia." The Athenians no doubt 
•considered this form of the tiara as an expression of pride and 
assumption. It is recorded as one of the marks of arrogance in 
Apollodorus, the Athenian painter, that he wore an "erect capt" 

The coin represented in Plate YIII. fig. 15. (taken from Patin, 
Imp. Rom. Numismata, Par. 1697, p. 213) is of the reign of 
the Emperor Commodus, and belonged according to the legend 
either to Trapezus in Cappadocia or to Trapezopolis in Caria. 
It represents the god Lunus or Mensis, who was the moon con- 
sidered as of the male sex agreeably to the ideas of many northern 
and Asiatic nations (Patin, p. 173). This male moon or month 
was, as it seems, always represented with the cyrbasia %. In 
another coin published by Patin {I. c.) a cock stands at the feet 
of this divinity, proving that this was the sacred bird of Lunus, 
and probably because the rayed form of the cock's comb was 
regarded as a natural type of the cyrbasia, which distinguished 
the kings of Persia and was attributed also to this Oriental 
divinity. A lamp found on the Celian Mount at Rome§ repre- 
sents in the centre Lunus with 12 rays, probably designed to 
denote the 12 months of the year, and on the handle two 
cocks pecking at their food. A head of the same divinity, pub- 
lished by Hirt (I. c.) from an antique gem at Naples, has 7 stars 
upon the cap, perhaps referring to the 7 planets. 

Instead of the conical cap of the Asiatics many of the North- 
ern nations of Europe appear to have worn a felt cap, the form 
of which was that of a truncated cone. Of this a good exam- 
ple is shown in the group of Sarmatians, represented in the 



* Xenoph. Anal. ii. 5. 23 ; Cyrop. viii. 3, 13. Clitarehus, ap. Schol. in Aris- 
toph. Aves, 487. 

t Hi\ov6p 86v. Hesychius, s. V. Hxtaypaipai. 
X Hirt's Bilderbuch, p. 88. tab. xi. figs. 8, 9. 
§ Bartoli, Luc. Ant, P. II. tav. 11. 



FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 425 

wood-cut in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman An- 
tiquities (p. 160), which is taken from the Column of Trajan. 
The same thing appears in various coins belonging to the 
reign of this Emperor, two of which, preserved in the British 
Museum, are engraved in Plate VIII. fig. 16. represents Dacia 
sitting as a captive with her hands tied behind her back, wear- 
ing trowsers (bracca) and a conical or oval cap with the edge 
turned up. Figure 17. represents Dacia mourning. In each 
we see a Dacian target together with Roman armor. Each 
has the same legend, Dac. Cap. Cos. V. P. P. S. P. Q,. R. 
Optimo. Princ. On the reverse is the head of the Emperor 
with the inscription Imp. Trajano. Aug. Ger. Dac. P. M. 
Tr. P. 

According to the representation of Lucian (de Gymnas.), 
the Scythians were in the constant habit of wearing caps or 
hats : for in the conversation between Anacharsis and Solon 
described by that author, Anacharsis requests to go into the 
shade, saying that he could scarce endure the sun, and that he 
had brought his cap OrrAov) from home, but did not like be- 
ing seen alone in a strange habit. In later times we read of 
the " pileati Gothi" and " pileati sacerdotes Gothorum*." 

In considering the use of the skull-cap, or of the conical cap 
of felt, it remains to notice the use of it among the Romans as 
the emblem of libertyt. When a slave obtained his freedom 
he had . his head shaven, and wore instead of his hair the pi- 
leus, or cap of undyed felt, (Diod. Sic. Exc. Leg. 22. p. 625, ed. 
Wess.). Plutarch, in allusion to the same custom, calls the cap 
n-iXtoi/, which is the diminutive of n:\o S . It is evident, that the 
Latin pileus or pileum is derived from the Greek tt:\o S and its 
diminutive, and this circumstance in conjunction with other ev- 
idence tends to show, that the Latins adopted this use of felt 
from the Greeks. Sosia says in Plautus (Amphit. i. 1. 306), as a 
description of the mode of receiving his liberty, " Ut ego hodie, 
raso capite calvus, capiam pileum." Servius (in Virg. JEHn. 
viii. 564) says, the act of manumitting slaves in this form was 

* Jornandes, &c, ap. Div. Gentium Hist. Ant, Hamb. 1611, pp. 86, 93. 
t HffiC mea libertas ; hoc nobis pilea donant. — Persius, v. 82. 

54 



426 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF 

done in the temple of Feronia, who was the goddess cf freed- 
men. In her temple at Terracina was a stone seat, on which 
was engraved the following verse : 

" Benemeriti servi sedeant, surgent liberi." 

In allusion to this practice it appears that the Romans, though 
they did not commonly wear hats, put them on at the Saturna- 
lia*. At the death of Nero, the common people to express their 
joy went about the city in felt capst. In allusion to this cus- 
tom the figure of Liberty on the coins of Antoninus Pius holds 
the cap in her right hand. Figures 1 and 2 in Plate IX. are 
examples selected from the collection in the British Museum, 
and, as we learn from the legend, were struck when he was 
made consul the fourth time, i. e. A. D. 145. 

In contradistinction to the various forms of the felt cap now 
described and represented, all of which were more or less ele- 
vated, and many of which were pointed upwards, we have now 
to consider those, which, though made of felt, and therefore 
classed by the ancients under the general terms pilens, ™Xo?, 
&c.+, corresponded more nearly to our modern hat. The 
Greek word Trirauos, dim. nsTaa-iov, derived from TrenWtijua, extendo. 
dilato, and adopted by the Latins in the form petasus, dim. 
petasunculus, well expressed the distinctive form of these hats. 
They were more or less broad and expanded. What was 
taken from their height was added to their width. Those al- 
ready mentioned had no brim ; the petasus of every variety 
had a brim, which was either exactly or nearly circular, and 
which varied greatly in its width. In some cases it seems to 
be a mere circular disc without any crown at all. Of this we 
have an example in a beautiful statue, which has, no doubt, 
been meant for Endymion, in the Townley collection of the 
British Museum. See Plate IX. Fig. 3. His right hand en- 
circles his head, and his scarf is spread over a rock as described 



* Pileata Roma. Martial, xi. 7 ; xiv. 1. 

t Plebs pileata. Sueton. JVero, 57. 

t Plutarch (Solon, 179) says that Solon, pretending to be mad and acting the 
part of a herald from Salamis, i&Trfi&rjasv els rx\v dyopav atpvco niXiov TreptQtfisvos. 
Pere irtXiov seems to mean the -niraaoi. 



FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 427 

by Lucian*. He sleeps upon it, holding the fibula in his left 
hand. His feet are adorned with boots {cothurni) and his sim- 
ple petasus is tied under his chin. In this form the petasus il- 
lustrates the remark of Theophrastus, who, in describing the 
Egyptian Bean, says, that the leaf was of the size of the Thessa- 
lian petasusf. For the purpose of comparing these two objects, 
a representation of the leaves of the plant referred to, is intro- 
duced into the same Figure (3) ; taken from the " Botanical 
Magazine," Plates 903, 3916, and Sir J. E. Smith's " Exotic 
Botany," Tab. 31, 32. The petasus here shown on the head 
of Endymion, the original statue being as large as life, certain- 
ly resembles very closely both in size and in form the leaf of 
the Egyptian Bean, which is the Cyamus Nelumbo, or Nelum- 
bium Speciosum of modern botanists. 

The flowers of umbelliferous plants are aptly called by Pha- 
nias+ neTaawSri, i. e. like a petasus. The petasus, as worn by the 
two shepherds, who discover Romulus and Remus, in a bas-relief 
of the Vatican§, is certainly not unlike the umbel of a plant. 
See Plate IX. Fig. 4. 



* In the Dialogues of the Gods (xi.), the Moon says in answer to Venus, that 
Endymion is particularly beautiful " when he sleeps, having thrown his scarf 
under him upon the rock, holding in his left hand the darts just falling from it, 
whilst his right hand bent upwards lies gracefully round his face, and, dissolved 
in sleep, he exhales his ambrosial breath." 

The recumbent statue, here represented, is of white marble, and is placed in 
room XI. of the Townley Gallery. It was found in 1774 at Roma Vecchia (Dal- 
laway's Anecdotes of the Arts, p. 303). It has been called Mercury or Adonis. 
But there are no examples or authorities in support of either of these suppositions. 
It is not sufficient to say that every beautiful youth may have been meant either 
for Mercury, who was never represented asleep, or for Adonis. We know that 
the fable of Endymion and the Moon was a favorite subject with the ancient art- 
ists. In the Antichita d'Ercolano, torn. iii. tav. 3, we find a picture, which was 
discovered at Portica, and which represents this subject. It is still more frequent 
in ancient bas-reliefs. See Mus. Pio-Clem. torn. iv. v. 8, pp. 38, 41 ; Sandrart, 
Sculp. Vet. Adm. p. 52 ; Gronovii Thesaur. torn. i. folio ; Proceedings of the 
Philological Society, vol. i. pp. 8, 9. 

+ ITcTao-M QcrraXiKy. Hist. Plant, iv. 10. p. 147, ed. Schneider. 

t Apud Athen. ix. 12. p. 371 D. ed. Casaub. 

§ Museo Pio-Clementino, torn. v. tav. 24. This bas-relief formerly belonged to 
the Mattei collection. See Monumenta Matthceinana, torn. iii. tab. 37. 



428 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF 

I 

Callimachus ascribes the same head-dress to shepherds in the 
following lines : 

"En-josm: tol irpos%ov<Ta Kaprjs tvpua KaXCirrprij 
TLoijjsvtKdv 7ri'X/)//a. — Frag. cxxv. 
The wide covering projecting from your head, the pastoral hat, became you. 

This " pastoral hat," if we may judge from the representa- 
tion of the two shepherds in the bas-relief just referred to (Fig. 
4.), was in its shape very like the "bonny blue bonnet" of the 
Scotch. Figure 5 in Plate IX. is taken from a painted Greek 
vase, and represents the story of the delivery of CEdipus to be 
exposed. His name OIAIITOAAL is written beside him. The 
shepherd ET$OPBOE, who holds the naked child in his arms, 
wears a flat and very broad petasus hanging behind his neck. 
It is of an irregular shape, as if from long usage*. The shep- 
herd Zethus wears a petasus hanging behind his back in a 
bas-relief belonging to the Borghese collection, published by 
Winckelmann (Mon. Inediti, ii. 85). See Plate IX. Fig. 6. 

The Athenian ephebi wore the broad-brimmed hat, together 
with the scarf or chlamysf . Meleager, in an epigram on a beau- 
tiful boy, named Antiochus, says, that he would be undistinguish- 
able from Cupid, if Cupid wore a scarf and petasus instead of 
his bow and arrows and his wingsj. 

When a young Greek conquered in the games, his friends 
semetimes bestowed a hat (petasus) upon him as a presents 

In consequence of the use of the petasus as a part of the 
ordinary costume of the Athenian youth, we find it in a great 
variety of works of ancient art illustrative of the religion and 
mythology of Greece. For example : — 

1. In the inner frieze of the Parthenon, the remains of which 
are now in the British Museum, it is worn by many of the 
riders on horseback. Figure 7, in Plate IX. shows one of 



* See Monumenti Inediti pubblicati daiV Instituto di Corrcspondenza Arckeo- 
logica, vol. ii. tav. 14. 

t Pollux, Onom. x. 164 ; Philemon, p. 367. ed. Meineke ; Brunck, Anal. vol. ii. 
p. 41 ; Jacobs in Athol. Grac. i. 1. p. 24. 

% Brunck, Anal. vol. i. p. 5. 

§ Eratosthen. a Bernhardy, p. 249. 250. 



FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 429 

these horsemen (from the slab No. 54.) with his petasus tied 
under his chin. 

2. It is worn by Theseus, as represented on a vase in the 
Vatican collection. See Winckelmann, Moil. Inediti, vol. ii. 
98, and Fig. 8, Plate IX. 

3. Also by OEdipus, as represented on one of Sir William 
Hamilton's vases (vol. ii. Plate 24.), standing before the sphinx. 

4. The coins of iEtolia exhibit Meleager wearing the petasus. 
Five of these have been selected from the collection in the 
British Museum, which are engraved according to the size of 
the originals in Plate IX. Figures 9, 10, and 11, are of silver. 
In each of them the petasus has the form of a circular disc with 
a boss at the top like that on a Scotch bonnet : on the reverse 
is the Calydonian boar, with a spear head beneath it, and the 
word AITQAQN. Figure 12, which is of gold*, and Figure 13, 
which is of silver, have the head of Hercules on the reverse. 
The hero, supposed to be Meleager, wears a petasus, a scarf, and 
boots, as we have seen to be the case with Endymion (Fig. 3), 
this being the attire of hunters. In these two coins he also 
holds a spear in his right hand, and is seated upon a shield 
(see Fig. 13.) and other pieces of armor. AITSAON is written 
by the side. The gold coin (see Fig. 12.) represents him with 
a Victory in his left hand, and with a small figure of Diana 
Lucifera in front. 

The broad-brimmed hat, or petasus, was more especially worn 
by the Greeks when they were travellingt. Its appearance is 
well shown in Fig. 14, taken from a fictile vase belonging to 
the late Mr. Hope+. It represents a Greek soldier on a journey, 
wearing his large blanket, and holding two spears in his right 
hand. This figure also shows one of the methods of fastening 
on the hat, viz. by passing the string round the occiput. 

The comedies of Plautus, being translated from the Greek, 
contain allusions to the same practice. In the Pseudolus (ii. 4. 
55, and iv. 7. 90,) the petasus and the scarf are supposed to be 



* This is engraved by Taylor Combe, Vet. Populorum Nunmi. tab. v. No. 23 

t Brunck, Anal. ii. 170, No. 5. 

J Hope, Costume of the Ancients, vol. i. pi. 71. 



430 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF 

worn by a person to indicate that he was coming from a journey. 
In the prologue to the Amphitryo, Mercury says, 

Ego has habebo hie usque in petaso pinnulas. 
Turn meo patri autem torulus merit aureus 
Sub petaso : id signum Amphitruoni non erit. 

Mercury and his father Jupiter are here supposed to be attired 
like Sosia and Amphitryo his master, both of whom had been 
travelling and were returning home. At the same time there 
is an allusion to the winged hat of Mercury, of which more 
hereafter. Again, in act i. scene i. 1. 287, the petasus is 
attributed to Sosia, because he is supposed to be coming from a 
journey; and to Mercury, both because it was commonly 
attributed to him, and because on this occasion he was person- 
ating Sosia. 

The Romans were less addicted to the use of the petasus 
than the Greeks : they often wore it when they were from 
home ; but that they did not consider it at all necessary to wear 
hats in the open air is manifest from the remark of Suetonius 
about the Emperor Augustus, that he could not even bear the 
winter's sun, and hence " domi quoque non nisi petatasus sub 
divo spatiabatur." (August. 82.) Caligula permitted the 
senators to wear them at the theatres as a protection from the 
sun (Dio. Cass. lix. 7. p. 909, ed. Reimari). What was meant 
by wearing hats " according to the Thessalian fashion" is by no 
means clear. Perhaps the Thessalians may have worn hats 
resembling those of their neighbors, the Macedonians, and of 
the shape of these we may form some conception from the coins 
of the Macedonian kings. One of these coins from the collec- 
tion in the British Museum is copied in Plate IX. Fig. 15. 
It is a coin of the reign of Alexander I. and exhibits a Mace- 
donian warrior standing by the side of his horse, holding two 
spears in his left hand, and wearing a hat with a broad brim 
turned upwards. This Macedonian petasus is called the 
Causia (*aWa)*, and was adopted by the Romansf, and more 

* Val. Max. v. 1. Extern. 4. Pausan., ap. Eustath. in II. ii. 121. It is to be 
observed, that the causia and petasus are opposed to one another by a writer in 
Athenseus (L. xii. 537, e), as if the causia was not a petasus ! 

+ Plautus, Mil. iv. 4. 42. Pers. i. 3. 75. Antip. Thess. in Brunch Anal. ii. 111. 



FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 431 

especially by the Emperor Caracalla, who, as Herodian states, 
aimed to imitate Alexander the Great in his costume. It 
appears probable, nevertheless, that the turning up of the brim 
was not peculiar to the Macedonians, and it may have depended 
altogether on accident or fancy ; for we find instances of it on 
painted fictile vases, where there is no reason to suppose that 
any reference was intended either to Macedonia or Thessaly. 
Fig. 16. Plate IX. for example, is taken from the head of 
Bellerophon, on one of Sir William Hamilton's vases* ; and the 
left-hand figure from a fictile vase at Vienna, engraved by 
Ginzrotf. This hat is remarkable for the boss at the top, which 
we observe also on the iEtolian coins, and in various other 
examples. 

In connection with the above quoted expression of Dio Cas- 
sius it may be observed further, that besides the causia two 
varieties of the petasus seem to be alluded to by several ancient 
authors, viz. the Thessalian, and the Arcadian or Laconian. 
How they were distinguished, cannot be ascertained, but the 
passages which mention them will now be produced, that the 
reader may judge for himself. The Thessalian variety is 
mentioned by Dio Cassius, by Theophrastus, as above quoted 
(p. 427), and by Callimachus in the following fragment, which 
is preserved in the Scholia on Sophocles, (Ed. Col. 316. 

And about his head lay a felt, newly come from Thessaly, as 
a protection from wet.— Frag. 124. ed. Ernesti. 

The frenzied Cynic philosopher Menedemus, among other pe- 
culiarities, wore an Arcadian hat, HAVING THE TWELVE 
SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC WOVEN INTO IT* ! Am- 
mianus (Brunck, Anal. ii. 384.) represents an orator dedicating 
" an Arcadian hat" to Mercury, who was the patron of his art, 
and also a native of Arcadia. 

Herodes Atticus wore " the Arcadian hat" at Athens, as a 
protection from the sun ; and the language of Philostratus, in 
recording the fact, shows that the Athenians of his time com- 

* Vol. i. pi. 1. 

t Uber die Wdgen und Fuhriverke der Allen, vol. i. p. 342. 
t Diog. Laert. vi. 102. See Gilroy's Treatise on the Art of Weaving, Amer- 
ican edition, p. 446. 



432 -MANUFACTURE AND USE OP 

monly wore it, more especially m travelling*. Arrian, who 
wrote about the middle of the second century, says, that " La- 
conian or Arcadian hats," were worn in the army by the pel- 
tastae instead of helmetst. This circumstance shows a remark- 
able change of customs ; for in the early Greek history we find 
the Persian soldiers held up as the objects of ridicule and con- 
tempt, because they wore hats and trowsers*. On the whole, it 
is very evident that " the Arcadian or Laconian hat " was one 
and the same variety, and that this variety of head-dress was 
simply the petasus, or hat with a brim, so called to distinguish 
it from the proper m\os, which was the skull-cap, or hat without 
a brim. 

This supposition suits the representations of the only ima- 
ginary beings who are exhibited in works of ancient art wear- 
ing the petasus, viz. the Dioscuri and Mercury. 

It has been already observed that the Dioscuri are commonly 
represented with the skull-cap, because they were worshipped, 
as the reader will have perceived, as the guardians of the mar- 
iner§ ; but on ancient vases we find them sometimes painted 
with the petasus ; and if this was the same with the n:\og AaKavi- 
Kdg, it would coincide with their origin as natives of Sparta. In 
Plate IX. Fig. 16, an example is shown, on one of Sir Wil- 
liam Hamilton's vases, in which their attire resembles that of 
the Athenian ephebi. They wear boots and a tunic, over 
which one of them also wears the scarf or chlamys. They 
are conducted by the goddess Night. 

In like manner Mercury, as a native of Arcadia, might be 
expected to wear " the Arcadian hat." In the representations 
of this deity on works of ancient art, the hat, which is often 
decorated with wings to indicate his office of messenger, as his 
talaria also didll, has a great variety of forms, and sometimes 
the brim is so narrow, that it does not differ from the cap of the 
artificer already described, or the m\o S in its ordinary form. 

* Vit. Sophist, ii. 5. 3. t Tactica, p. 12. ed. Blancardi. 

t Herod, v. 49. § See p. 419. 

|| Servius (on Virg. Mn. viii. 138) says, that Mercury was supposed to have 
wings on his petasus and on his feet, in order to denote the swiftness of speech, 
he being the god of eloquence. 



FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 433 

These hats, with a brim of but small dimensions, agree most 
exactly in appearance with the cheapest hats of undyed felt, 
now made in the United States and Great Britain*. On the 
heads of the rustics and artificers in our streets and lanes 
we often see forms the exact counterpart of those which we 
most admire in the works of ancient art. The petasus is also 
still commonly worn by agricultural laborers in Greece and Asia 
Minor. 

A bas-relief in the Vatican collectiont, represents the birth of 
Hercules, and contains two figures of Mercury. In one he car- 
ries the infant Hercules, in the other the caduceus. In both he 
wears a large scarf, and a skull-cap, like that of DeedalusJ, 
without a brim. This example therefore proves that, although 
the petasus, as distinguished from the pileus, was certainly the 
appropriate attribute of Mercury§, yet the artists of antiquity 
sometimes took the liberty of placing on his head the skull-cap 
instead of the hat, just as we have seen that they sometimes 
made the reverse substitution in the case of the Dioscuri. 

Another bas-relief in the Vatican ||, represents the story of 
the birth of Bacchus from, Jupiter's thigh. Thus the subject 
of it is very similar to that, which relates to the birth of Her- 
cules, the infant being in each instance consigned to the care 
of Mercury. But the covering of Mercury's head in these two 
cases is remarkably different, though from no other reason than 



* These hats are sold in the shops for sixpence, ninepence, or a shilling each. 

t Musea Pio-Clementino, torn. iv. tav. 37. 

t See Plate VIII. Fig. 8. 

§ See Brunck, Anal. ii. 41, and Arnobius, Adv. Gentes, lib. vi. See also Ep- 
hippus, ap. Athen. xii. 53. p. 537 F. Casaub. 

It is remarkable .that the person who acted the part of a Silenus in the Dionys- 
iac procession instituted by Ptolemy Philadelphus at Alexandria, wore a hat and 
a golden caduceus {Athen. v. 27. p. 198 A.). In this case the imagination ap- 
pears to have been indulged in decorating a mere festive character with the pecu- 
liar attributes of Mercury. It is added, that various kinds of chariots were driven 
by " boys wearing the tunics of charioteers and petasi" {Athen. v. p. 200 F.). This 
would be in character, being agreeable to the custom of the Grecian youth. 

The following is from a sepulchral urn found near Padua {Gruter. p. 297) : 

Abite hinc, pessimi fures, * * * vestro cum Mercurio petasato caduceatoque. 

|] Museo Pio-Clementino, torn. iv. tav. 19. 

55 



434 MANUFACTURE AND USE OP 

the fancy of the artist. In the bas-relief now under consider- 
ation, Mercury holds the skin of a lynx or panther to receive 
the child. He wears the scarf or chlamys and cothurni. This 
was a very favorite subject with the ancients. It occurs on a 
superb marble vase with the inscription SAAIII2N EnoiHEE*, 
and on one of Sir W. Hamilton's fictile vasesf. 

Figure 4. in Plate X. is from Hope's Costume of the An- 
cients, vol. ii. pi. 175. The money-bag is in Mercury's right 
hand. 

In a painting found at Pompeii!, Mercury is represented 
with wings (pi?inulce) on his petasus, though not very ancient, 
is also recognized in the Amphitryo of Plautus. 

Figure 5. in Plate X. is from the Marquis of Lansdowne's 
marble bust, published by the Dilettanti Society§. In this 
beautiful bust the brim of the hat is unfortunately damaged. 

Figures 6 and 7, Plate X., are from coins engraved in Ca- 
relli's Nummi Veteris Italics (plates 58 and 65). Figure 7 is 
a coin of Suessa in Campania. 

To these illustrations might have been added others from an- 
cient gems, good examples of which may be found in the sec- 
ond volume of Mariette's Traite des Pierres Gravees, folio, 
Paris, 1750. 

Besides the application of felt as a covering of the head for 
the male sex in the manner now explained, it was also used as 
a lining for helmets. When in the description of the helmet 
worn by Ulysses we read 

Msitctji S IvX m\o; dpfipeiW, 

we may suppose *i\o S to be used in its most ordinary sense, and 

* Spon., Misc. Erud. Ant. § xi. art. 1. t Vol. i. No. 8. 

t Gell's Pompeiana, London 1819, pi. 76. 

§ Specimens of Ancient Sculpture, London 1809, pi. 51. 

[| Homer, II. x. 265. Eustathius, in his commentary on this passage, says, that 
the most ancient Greeks always wore felt in their helmets, but that those of more 
recent times, regarding this use of felt as peculiar to Ulysses, persuaded the paint- 
ers to exhibit him in a skull-cap, and that this was first done, according to the 
tradition, by the painter Apollidorus. The account of Pliny, who, together with 
Servius (in Mn. ii. 44), represents Nicomachus, and not Apollidorus, as having 
first adopted this idea. 



id 

mm 




Plate JZ 




FELT BY THE ANCIENTS. 435 

consequently that the interior of the helmet was a common 
skull-cap. 

Being generally thicker than common cloth, felt presented a 
more effectual obstacle to missile weapons. Hence, when the 
soldiers under Julius Csesar were much annoyed by Pompey's 
archers, they made shirts or other coverings of felt, and put 
them on for their defence*. Thucydides refers to. the use of 
similar means to protect the body from arrowsf; and even 
in besieging and defending cities felt was used, together with 
hides and sackcloth, to cover the wooden towers and military 
engines!. 

Felt was also sometimes used to cover the bodies of quadru- 
peds. According to Aristotle§, the Greeks clothed their molles 
oves either with skins or with pieces of felt ; and the wool be- 
came gray in consequence. The Persians used the same ma- 
terial for the trappings of their horses (Plutarch, Artax. II. p. 
1858. ed. Stephani). 

The loose rude coverings for the feet called Udones were 
sometimes made of felt, being worn within the shoes or brogues 
of the rustic laborers || . 

In concluding this investigation it may be proper to observe 
that, although m\o S originally meant felt, and more especially 
a skull-cap made of that manufacture, it was sometimes used 
at least by the later Greek authors, by an extension of its 
meaning, to denote a cap of any other material. Thus Athen- 
seus (lib. vi. p. 274. Casaub.) speaking of the Romans, says, 
that they wore about their heads viXo VS ^ofiartim &s Pi iaTo> v 6aatX;, %. e. 
" thick caps made of sheep skins." 



* Jul. Caesar, Bell. Civ. iii. 44. t Thucyd. iv. 34. Schol. ad he. 

X iEneas Tacticus, 33. 

§ De Gen. Animalium, v. 5. p. 157. ed. Bekker. 

II Hesiod, Op. ed Dies, 542 ; Gravius, ad loc. ; Cratini, Ffagmenta, p. 29. ed. 
Runkel. 



/ 



436 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF 

APPENDIX D. 

ON NETTING. 



MANUFACTURE AND USE OF NETS BY THE ANCIENTS ILLUSTRATIONS 

OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC. 

Nets were made of Flax, Hemp, and Broom — General terms for nets — Nets used 
for catching birds — Mode of snaring — Hunting-nets — Method of hunting — 
Hunting-nets supported by forked stakes — Manner of fixing them — Purse-net 
or tunnel-net — Homer's testimony — Nets used by the Persians in lion-hunting 
— Hunting with nets practised by the ancient Egyptians — Method of hunting 
— Depth of nets for this purpose — Description of the purse-net — Road-net — 
Hallier — Dyed feathers used to scare the prey — Casting-net — Manner of throw- 
ing by the Arabs — Cyrus king of Persia — His fable of the piper and the fishes 
— Fishing-nets — Casting-net used by the Apostles — Landing-net (S cap-net) — 
The Sean — Its length and depth — Modern use of the Sean — Method of fishing 
with the Sean practised by the Arabians and ancient Egyptians — Corks and 
leads — Figurative application of the Sean — Curious method of capturing an 
enemy practised by the Persians — Nets used in India to catch tortoises — Bag- 
nets and small purse -nets — Novel scent -bag of Verres the Sicilian praetor. 

The raw materials, of which the ancients made nets, were 
flax, hemp*, and broomf. Flax was most commonly used ; so 
that Jerome, when he is prescribing employment for monks, 
says, " Texantur et Una capiendis piscibust" The operation 
of netting, as well as that of platting, was expressed by the 
verb srXs«ii'§. The meshes were called in Latin maculceW, in 
Greek Pp<>x°h dim. 0pt>xifa% 

* Rete cannabina. Varro, De Re Rust. iii. 5. p. 216, ed. Bipont. 

t Pliny, H. N. xix. 1. s. 2 ; xxiv. 9. s. 40. 

t Hieron. Epist. 1. ii. p. 173, ed. Par. 1613, 12mo. Hunting-nets are called 
" Una nodosa" by Ovid, Met. iii. 153, and vii. 807. Compare Virg. Georg. i. 142 ; 
Homer, II. v. 487 ; Brunck, Anal. ii. 94, 494, 495 ; Artimedorus, ii. 14. See 
also Pliny, H. N. xix. 1. s. 2. 

§ HX^&ftevos apicvs, Aristoph. Lysist. 790. T<3v war\eyiiivoiv 6'iktvoiv, Bokkeri 
Anecdota, vol. i. p. 354. 

|| Varro, De Re Rust. iii. 11 ; Ovid, Epist. v. 19 ; Nemesiani Cyneg. 302. 

T Heliodor. 1. v. p. 231, ed. Commelini. 



NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 437 

The use of all the Latin and Greek terms for nets will now 
be explained, and in connection with this explanation of terms, 
will be produced all the facts which can be ascertained upon 
the subject. 

I. 

Retis and Rete ; dim. Reticulum. 
AIKTYON*. 

Retis or Rete in Latin, and surmv in Greek, were used to de- 
note nets in general. Thus in an epigram of Leonidas Tarenti- 
nusf, three brothers, one of whom was a hunter, another a fowler, 
and the third a fisherman, dedicate their nets to Pan. Several 
imitations of this epigram remain by Alexander iEtolusJ, 
Antipater Sidonius§, Archiasll, and others^. In one of these 
epigrams ('IovXnWd AiymTUv) we find AiVo adopted as a general 
term for nets instead of iUrva, no doubt for the reason above 
stated. In another epigram** a hare is said to have been caught 
in a net (lixrvov). Aristophanes mentions nets by the same 
denomination among the contrivances employed by the fowlerft. 
Fishing-nets are called su™ in the following passages of the 
New Testament : Matt. iv. 20, 21 ; Mark i. 18, 19 ; Luke v. 
2, 4-6 ; John xxi. 6, 8, 11 : also by Theocritus, ap. Athen. 
vii. 20. p. 284, Cas. ; and by Plato, Sophista, 220,*6. p. 134, 
ed. Bekker. 

Netting was applied in various ways in the construction of 
hen-coops and aviaries ; and such net-work is called retell. It 
was used to make pens for sheep by night. At the amphi- 
theatres it was sometimes placed over the podium. At a gladi- 
atorial show given by Nero, the net, thus used as a fence against 

* From SikeTv, to throw. See Eurip. Bacc. 600, and the Lexicons of Schnei- 
der and Passow. 

t Brunck, Anal. i. 225. 

t Brunck, Anal. i. 418. Alexandri iEtoli Fragmenta, a Capelmann, p. 50. 

§ Ibid. ii. 9, Nos. 15, 16. || Ibid. ii. 94, No. 9. 

T Ibid. ii. 494, 495. Jacobs, Anthol. vol. i. p. 188, 189. 

** Brunck, Anal. iii. 239, No 417. +t Aves, 526-528. 

tt Varro, De Re Rust. iii. 5. 



438 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF 

the wild beasts, was knotted with amber*. The way in 
which the net was used by the Retiarii is well known. The 
head-dress called nenpiQaXos, was a small net of fine flax, silk, or 
gold thread, and was also called reticulums. But by far the 
most important application of net-work was to the kindred arts 
of hunting and fishing : and besides the general terms used 
alike in reference to both these employments, there are special 
terms to be explained under each head. 

The use of nets for catching birds was very limited, on 
which account we find no appropriate name for fowlers' netst 
Nevertheless thrushes were caught in them§, and doves or 
pigeons, with their limbs tied up, or fastened to the ground, or 
with their eyes covered or put out, were confined in a net in 
order that their cries might allure others into the snare II . An 
account of the nets used by the Egyptians to catch birds is 
given by Sir Gardner WilkinsonTT, being derived from the 
paintings found in the catacombs. The net commonly em- 
ployed for the purpose was the clap-net. Bird-traps were also 
made by stretching a net over two semicircular frames, which, 
being joined and laid open, approached to the form of a circle. 
The trap was baited, and when a bird flew to it and seized the 
bait, it was instantly caught by the sudden rising of the two 
sides or flaps. 

II. 

Cassis ; Plaga. 
ENOAION, APKYE. 

In hunting it was usual to extend nets in a curved line of 
considerable length**, so as in part to surround a space, into 

* Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 3. s. 11. 

t Nonius Marcellus, p. 542, ed. Merceri. See also the article Calantica, in 
Smith's Diet, of Greek and Roman Antiquities. 

t See Aristophanes, I. c. § Hor. Epod. ii. 33, 34. 

|| Aristoph. Aves, 1083. T Man. and Customs, vol. iii. p. 35-38, 45. 

** To SiK-nia vepiP&Wovei. ./Elian, H. A. xii. 46. Uno portante multitudinem, 
qua saltus cingerentur. Plin. H. N. xix. 1. s. 2. Oppian (Cyneg. iv. 120-123) 
says, that in an Asiatic lion-hunt the nets (apxvcs) were placed in the form of the 
new moon. 



NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 439 

which the beasts of chase, such as the boar, the wild goat, the 
deer, the hare, the lion, and the bear might be driven through 
the opening left on one side. Tibullus (iv. 3. 12) speaks of 
inclosing woody hills for this purpose : — 

densos indagine colles 

Claudentem. 

The following lines of Virgil show, that the animals were 
driven into the toils from a distance by the barking of dogs and 
the shouts of men : 

Thy hound the wild-ass in the sylvan chase, 
Or hare, or hart, with faithful speed will trace ; 
Assail the muddy cave with eager cries, 
Where the rough boar in secret ambush lies ; 
Press the tall stag with clamors echoing shrill 
To secret toils, along the aerial hill. 

Georg. iii. 411^13. — Warton's Translation. 

In another splendid passage the boar is described as coming into 
the midst of the nets after he has been driven to them from a 
mountain or a marsh at a great distance : 

And as a savage boar on mountains bred, 
With forest mast and fattening marshes fed ; 
When once he sees himself in toils inclosed, 
By huntsmen and their eager hounds opposed ; 
He whets his tusks, and turns and dares the war : 
The invaders dart their javelins from afar : 
All keep aloof and safely shout around, 
But none presumes to give a nearer wound. 
He frets and froths, erects his bristled hide, 
And shakes a grove of lances from his side. 

Mn. x. 707-715.— Dryden's Translation. 

Even in a case where the same poet introduces an equivalent 
expression to that of Tibullus, already quoted, viz. "saltus 
indagine cingunt" (JEn. iv. 121), he represents the hunting- 
party as going over a large extent of country to collect the 
animals out of it : 

Postquam altos ventum in montes atque invia lustra, 
Ecce ferae saxi dejectae vertice caprae 
Decurrere jugis ; alia de parte patentes 
Transmittunt cursu campos, atque agmina cervi 
Pulverulenta fuga glomerant, montesque relinquunt. 



440 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF 

At puer Ascanius mediis in vallibus acri 
Gaudet equo, jamque hos cursu, jam preterit illosj 
Spumantemque dari pecora inter inertia votis 
Optat aprum, aut fulvum descendere monte leonem. 

Mn. iv. 151-159. 

So Ovid (Epist. iv. 41, 42) : 

In nemus ire libet, pressisque in retia cervis, 
Hortari celeres per juga summa canes ; 

and (Epist. v. 19, 20) : 

Retia saepe comes maeulis distincta tetendi, 
Scepe citos egi per juga longa canes. 

The younger Pliny describes himself on one occasion sitting 
beside the nets, while the hunters were pursuing the boars and 
driving them into the snare (Epist. i. 6). In Euripides (Bacc. 
821-832) we find the following beautiful description of a fawn, 
which has been driven into the space inclosed by the nets, but 
has leaped over them and escaped : — 

w; ve0pds p^XospaFj 
ijx-rrai^ovoa \tiji.aK0s if 
SovaXs, f\viK 'iv (pofiepov (pvyrj 
Bfjpaji i'£cj <pv\<iKas 
eirrXeKTiav virlp dpuvw, &C. 

Here a Bacchanal, tossing her head into the air with gambols 
and dancing, is said to be " like a fawn sporting in the green 
delights of a meadow, when she has escaped the fearful chase 
by leaping over the well-platted nets so as to be out of the 
inclosure, whilst the shouting hunter has been urging his dogs 
to run still more swiftly : by great efforts and with the rapidity 
of the winds she bounds over a plain beside a river, pleased 
with solitudes remote from man, and hides herself in the thickets 
of an umbrageous forest." 

If hollows or valleys were inclosed*, the nets were no doubt 

* Nee, velit insidiis altassi claudere valles, 
Dum placeas, humeri retia ferre negent. — Tibullus, L 4. 49, 50. 
It was the duty of the attendants (J. Pollux, v. 4. 27-31) in most cases to carry 
the nets on their shoulders, agreeably to the representation in the Plate X. 
Pliny, I. c. 

Cassibus impositos venor. — Propert. iv. 2. 32. 

alius raras 

Cervice gravi portare plagas. — Sen. Hippol. i. 1. 44. 



NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 441 

extended only in those openings, through which it was possible 
for the animals to escape. Also a river was of itself a sufficient 
boundary : 

Inclusum flumine cervum.— Virg. Mn. xii. 749. 

The proper Latin term for the hunting-net, but more espe- 
cially for the purse-net, which will be hereafter described, was 
Cassis. « Cassis, genus venatorii retis." Isidori Hispalensis 
Orig. xix. 5. " Arctos rodere casses" is applied by Persius (v. 
170) to a quadruped with incisor teeth caught in such a net 
and striving to escape. See also Propertius as just quoted, and 
the Agamemnon of Seneca and Yirgil's Georgics as quoted 
below. Cassis seems to be derived from the root of capere 
and catch. But Plaga was also applied to hunting-nets, so 
that Horace describes the hunting of the boar in the Mowing 
terms : 

Aut trudit acres hinc et hinc multa cane 
Apros in obstantes plagas.— Epod. ii. 31, 32. 

Lucretius (lib. v. 1251, 1252) aptly compares the setting up of 
the plaga to the planting of a hedge around the forest : 

Nam fovea atque igni prius est venarier ortum, 
Quarn srepire plagis saltum, canibusque ciere. 

In the same manner plaga is used in the Hippolytus of Sen- 
eca, as above quoted, and in Pliny*. 

To dispose the nets in the manner which has been described, 
was called « retia ponere" (Virg. GeorgA. 307) or "retia ten- 
dere" (Ovid, Art. Amat. i. 45). 

In Homer a hunting-net is called \u,ov nava ypov , literally, " the 
flax that catches everythingt." But the proper Greek term for 
the hunting-net, corresponding to the Latin cassis, was a pKVS , 
which is accordingly employed in the passages of Oppian and 
Euripides cited above. Also the epigram of Antipater Sidoni- 
us, to which a reference has already been made, specifies the 
hunting-net by the same appellation : 

Aajtis /iiv Brjpav iipKVv dpciovtSuaiv. 

The word is used in the same sense by CratinusJ ; also by Ar- 

*H.N. xl x.l.,2. ^T^T 

I Cratnn Fragmenta, a Runkel, p. 28. 

56 



442 



MANUFACTURE AND USE OF 



rian, where he remarks that the Celts dispensed with the use of 
nets in hunting, because they trusted to the swiftness of their 
greyhounds*. In Euripidesf it is used metaphorically : the chil- 
dren cry out, when their mother is pursuing them, 

'&S lyyvs JjiJl y scrjiev apKiuv $((povs, 
i. e. " Now how near we are being caught with the sword." 

Also in the Agamemnon of iEschylus (1. 1085) : 

'H SIktvov tl y' AtJou; 

b.W apicvs 17 i^vvevvoSj 7] ^vvaiiia 

<p6vov. 

In this passage reference is made to the large shawl in which 
Clytemnestra wrapt the body of Agamemnon, as in a net, in 
order to destroy him. On account of the use made of it, the 
same fatal garment is afterwards (1. 1353) compared to a cast- 
ing-net, which in its form bore a considerable resemblance to 
the cassis. In 1. 1346, apmcTaral denotes this net as set up 
for hunting. The same form occurs again in the Eumenides 
(1. 112) ; and in the Persce (102-104) escape from danger is in 
nearly the same terms expressed by the notion of overleaping 
the net. In Euripides§ this contrivance is called apKiaTaros ^x^'i 
and in the Agamemnon of Senecall the same allusion is intro- 
duced : 

At Hie, ut altis hispidus silvis aper ; 
Cum, casse vinctus, tentat egressus tamen, 
Arctatque motu vincla, et incassum furit, 
Cupit, fluentes undique et csecos sinus 
Disjicere, et hostem quaerit implicitus suum. 

Part of the apparatus of a huntsman consisted in the stakes 
which he drove into the ground to support his nets, and which 
Antipater Sidonius thus describes : 

Kot trvpi OriyaKlov; o^imayeTs oraXaca; ; 
i. e. " The sharp stakes hardened in the firelT." 

* Kai clalv al nine; avrat, o ti ir£p al apxvg %ivofS>vTi eKeivw, i. e. " And here grey- 
hounds answered the same purpose as Xenophon's hunting-nets." De Venal. 
ii. 21. See Dansey's translation, pp. 72, 121. 

t Medea, 1268. X Or, aoxwrarov, ed. Schtitz. 1. 1376. 

§ Orestes, 1405, s. 1421. || L. 886-890. 

IT Brunck, Anal. ii. 10. We find araXmeg in Oppian, Cyneg. iv. 67, 71, 121, 
380 ; Pollux, Onom. v. 31. 



NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 443 

The term which Xenophon uses of the stakes is, according 
to some manuscripts of his work, c X a\iSe S . He says, they 
should be fixed so as to lean backwards, and thus more effec- 
tually to resist the impulse of the animals rushing against 
them*. The Latin term answering to otoXikss was Varj. We 
find it thus used by Lucan : 

Aut, cum dispositis adtollat retia varis 
Venator, tenet ora levis clamosa Molossi. 

Pharsalia, iv. 439, 440. 
i. e. " The hunter holds the noisy mouth of the light Molossian dog, when he 
lifts up the nets to the stakes arranged in order." 

Gratius Faliscus, adopting a Greek term, calls them ancones, 
on account of the " elbow" or fork at the top : 

Hie magis in cervos valuit metus : ast ubi lentae 

Interdum Libyco fucantur sandyce pinnae, 

Lineaque extructis lucent anconibus arma, 

Rarum, si qua metus eludat bellua falsos. — Cyneg. 85-88. 

It was the business of one of the attendants to watch the nets : 

Ego retia servo. — Virg. Buc. iii. 75. 

Sometimes there was a watchman at each extremity and 
one in the middle, as in the Persian lion-huntf. The preva- 
lence of this method of hunting in Persia might be inferred 
from the circumstance, that one of the chief employments of 
the inhabitants consisted in making these nets (fym, Strabo, 
xv. 3. § 18). To watch the nets was called d P Kvo> pc rv (iElian, H. 
A. i. 2), and the man who discharged this office apweopos (Xen., 
De Yen. ii. 3 ; vi. 1.). 

The paintings discovered in the catacombs of Egypt show, 
that the ancient inhabitants of that country used nets for hunt- 
ing in the same manner which has now been shown to have 
been the practice of the Persians, Greeks and Romans*. 

Hunting-nets had much larger meshes than fishing or fowl- 
ers'-nets, because in general a fish or a fowl could escape 
through a much smaller opening than a quadruped. In hunt- 
ing, the important circumstance was to make the nets so strong 

* Be Venat. vi. 7. t Oppian, Cyneg. iv. 124, &c. 

X Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, vol. iii. p. 3-5. 



444 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF 

that the beasts could not break through them. The large 
size of the meshes is denoted by the phrases " retia rara*" and 
" raras plagast ;" and it is exhibited in a bas-relief in the collec- 
tion of ancient marbles at Ince-Blundell in Lancashire. See 
Plate X. fig. 1. This sculpture presents the following circum- 
stances, which are worthy of notice as illustrative of the pas- 
sages above collected from ancient authors. Three servants 
with staves carry a large net on their shoulders. The foremost 
of them holds by a leash a dog, which is eager to engage in the 
chasej. Then follows another scene in the hunt. A net with 
very large meshes and five feet high is set up, being supported 
by three stakes. Two boars and two deer are caught. A 
watchman, holding a staff, stands at each end of the net. Fig. 
2, Plate X. is taken from a bas-relief in the same collection, 
representing a party returning from the chase, with the quadru- 
peds which they have caught. Two men carry the net, hold- 
ing in their hands the stakes with forks at the top. These 
bas-reliefs have been taken from sarcophagi erected in com- 
memoration of hunters, and they are engraved in the Ancient 
statues, &c. at Ince-Blundell, vol. ii. pi. 89 and 126. An ex- 
cellent representation of these forked staves is given in a sepul- 
chral bas-relief in Bartoli, Admiranda, tab. 70, which Mr. 
Dansey has copied at p. 307 of his translation of Arrian on 
Coursing, and which represents a party of hunters returning 
from the chase. Another example of the varus, or forked staff, 
is seen in a sepulchral stone lately found at York (England), 
and engraved in Mr. Wellbeloved's Eburacum, pi. 14. fig. 2. 
The man, who holds the varus in his right hand, and who ap- 
pears to be a huntsman and a native of the north of England, 
though partly clothed after the Roman fashion, wears an inner 
and outer tunic, and over them a fringed sagum. In the Se- 
polcri de : Nasoni, published by Bartoli, there is a representation 
of a lion-hunt, and of another in which deer are caught by 
means of nets set up so as to inclose a large space. In Mont- 

* Virg. Mn. iv. 131 ; Hor. Epod. ii. 33. 

t Seneca, Hippol. 1. c. 

t See Lucan, as quoted in the last page. 



NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 445 

faucon's Supplement, tome iii., is an engraving from a bas-re- 
lief, in which a net is represented : but none of these are so in- 
structive as the two bas-reliefs at Ince-Blundell. 

Gratius Faliscus recommends that a net should be forty 
paces long, and full ten knots high : 

Et bis vicenos spatium praetendere passus 

Rete velim, plenisque decern consurgere nodis. — Cyneg. 31, 32. 

The necessity of making the nets so high that the animals 
could not leap over them, is alluded to in the expression Yipos 
xptiaaov iKTrnSnuaros, i. e. " a height too great for the animals to leap 

out*:' 

Xenophon, in his treatise on Hunting, gives various direc- 
tions respecting the making and setting of nets ; and Schneider 
has added to that treatise a dissertation concerning the &pkvs. It 
is evident that this kind of net was made with a bag (K«p<£aAo f) 
vi. 7), being the same which is now called the purse-net, or the 
tunnel-net, and that the aim of the hunter was to drive the 
animal into the bag ; that the watchman (apuvupos) waited to see 
it caught there ; that branches of trees were placed in the bag 
to keep it expanded, to render it invisible, and thus to decoy 
quadrupeds into it ; that a rope ran round the mouth of the bag 
fcpttpojios, vi. 9), and was drawn tight by the impulse of the 
animal rushing in so as to prevent its escapef . To this rope 
was attached another, called eirffyo/wy, which was used as follows. 
In fig. 1. of Plate X. we observe, that the upper border of the 

* JEsehyli Agamemnon, 1347. 

t This effect of the it£pi6po\ios is well expressed by Seneca, " Arctatque motu 
vincla :" also the circumstance of the branches used to distend the bag and to 
make it invisible ; " Fluentes undique et caecos sinus." 

Homer (77. v. 487) seems to allude to the same contrivance, and to apply the 
term a^Xks to the rope which encircled the entrance of the bag, with the others 
attached to it. 

We find in Brunck's Analecta (ii. 10. No. xx.) the phrase dyxvXa SUrva applied 
to hunting-nets. It was probably meant to designate the apxvs, which might be 
called dyxvXa, i. e. " angular," because they were made like bags ending in a 
point. The term ve$i\n, which occurs in Aristophanes (Aves, 195), and denoted 
some contrivance for catching birds, is said by the Scholiast on the passage to 
have meant a kind of hunting-net. But this explanation is evidently good for 
nothing. 



446 MANUFACTURE AND USE OP 

net consists of a very strong rope. Xenophon calls this eapfav. 
(vi. 9). In the purse-net it was furnished with rings. The 
dpuvapds, or watchman, lay in ambush, holding one end of the 
inidpopos, which ran through the rings, and was fastened at the 
other end to the mpiSpopos, so that by pulling it he drew the mouth 
of the bag still more firm and close. He then went to the bag 
and despatched the quadruped which it inclosed, or carried it 
off alive, informing his companions of the capture by shouting*. 
In this treatise Xenophon distinguishes the nets used in 
hunting by three different appellations ; Hpxvs, iv68iov, and Stenm 
Oppian also distinguishes the sunov used in hunting from the 
apKvst. The apKvs or cassis, i. e. " the purse- or tunnel-net," was 
by much the most complicated in its formation. The hofoov, or 
" road-net," was comparatively small : it was placed across any 
road, or path, to prevent the animals from pursuing that path : 
it must have been used to stop the narrow openings between 
bushes. The Hktvov was a large net, simply intended to inclose 
the ground : it therefore resembled in some measure the sean 
used in fishing. The term, thus specially applied, may be 
translated a hay, or a hallierX. These three kinds of nets 
appear to be mentioned together by Nemesianus under the 
names of retia (i. e. fena), casses (i. e. apms), and plagce (i. e. 

IvSSia. J : 

Necnon et casses idem venatibus aptos, 
Atque plagas, longoque meantia retia tractu 
Addiscunt raris semper contexere nodis, 
Et servare modum maculis, linoque tenaci. 

Cyneg. 299-302. 

Xenophon, in his treatise on Hunting, further informs us, that 
the cord used for making the fy™?, or purse-net, consisted of three 
strands, and that three lines twisted together commonly made 
a strand (ii. 4) ; but that, when the net was intended to catch 

* Oppian, Cyneg. iv. 409. Pliny mentions these epidromi, or running ropes : 
H. N. xix. 1. s. 2. 

t Ibid. iv. 381. 

t See Arrian on Coursing : the Cynegeticus of the younger Xenophon, trans- 
lated from the Greek, &c. &c. by a graduate of Medicine (William C. Dansey, 
M. B.). London, 1831, pp. 68, 188. 



NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 447 

the wild boar, nine lines went to a strand instead of three 
(x. 2). 

It remains to be noticed, that, when the long range of nets, set 
up in the manner which has been now represented, was designed 
to catch the stag (cervus), it was flanked by cords, to which, as 
well as to the nets themselves, feathers dyed scarlet, and of 
other bright colors intermixed with their native white, and 
sometimes probably birds' wings, were tied so as to flare and 
flutter in the wind*. This appendage to the nets was called 
the metus or formido (Virg. JEn. xii. 750), because it fright- 
ened these timid quadrupeds so as to urge them onwards into 
the toils. Hence Virgil, speaking of the method of taking 
stags in Scythia, says, 

Nor toils their flight impede, nor hounds o'ertake. 
Nor plumes of purple dye their fears awake. 

Georg. iii. 371, 372. — Sotheby's Translation. 

The following passages likewise allude to the use of this con- 
trivance in the stag-hunt : 

Nee formidatis cervos includite pennis. — Ovid. Met. xv. 475. 

Vagos dumeta per avia cervos 
Circumdat maculis et multa indagine pinnae. 

Auson. Epist. iv. 27. 

Nemesianus, in the following passage, asserts that the cord 
{linea) carrying feathers of this description had the effect of 
terrifying not the stag only, but the bear, the boar, the fox and 
the wolf : 

Linea quinetiam, magnos circumdare saltus 
Quae possit, volucresque metu concludere praedas, 
Digerat innexas non una ex alite pinnas. 
Namque ursos, magnosque sues, cervosque fugaces 
Et vulpes, acresque lupos, ceu fulgura coeli 
Terrifieant, Unique vetant transcendere septum. 
Has igitur vario semper fucare veneno 
Cura tibi, neveisque alios miscere colores, 
Alternosque metus subtemine tendere longo. 

Cyneg. 303-311. 

The same fact is asserted in a striking passage, which has 

* Dum trepidant alae. — Virg. JEn. iv. 121. 



448 MANUFACTURE AND USE OP 

been above quoted from Gratius Faliscus. To the same effect 
are the following passages : 

Nee est mirum, cum maximos ferarum greges linea pennis distincta conterreat, 
et ad insidias agat, ab ipso effectu dicta formido. — Seneca, de Ira, ii. 11. 

Feras lineis et pinna conclusas contine : easdem a tergo eques 
telis incessat : tentabunt fugam per ipsa quae fugerant, proculca- 
buntque formidinem — Seneca, de Ctementia, i. 12. 

Picta rubenti lineo pinna 
Vano claudat terrore feras. 

Seneca Frag. Hippol. i. 1. 

III. 

FUNDA, JACULUM, RETE JACULUM, RETIACULUM. 
AM$IBAHETPON, AM$IBOAON. 

Fishing-nets* were of six different kinds, which are enume- 
rated by Oppian as follows : 

Ttov tol jnev a/i^t/JXi/orpa, ra SI ypT<poi KaXeovrat, 
Yayyajia r', >7<5' i-no^ai nepinycet, >)<3£ aayrjvai. 
"AAXa Si KOcXfiGKovcri JcaXi/^ara. — Hal. iii. 80-82. 

Of these by far the most common were the dfififiXwrpov, or 
casting-net^ and the aaynvr,, i. e. the drag or sean. Conse- 
quently these two are the only kinds mentioned by Yirgil and 
Ovid in the following passages : 

Atque alius latum funda jam verberat amnem, 
Alta petens ; pelagoque alius trahit humida Una. 

Virg. Georg. i. 141, 142. 

Hi jaculo pisces, illi capiuntur ab hamis ; 
Hos cava contento retia fune trahunt. 

Ovid, Art. Amat. i. 763, 464. 

By Yirgil the casting-net is called funda, which is the com- 
mon term for a sling. In illustration of this it is to be observed, 
that the casting-net is thrown over the fisherman's shoulder, 
and then whirled in the air much like a sling. By this action 
he causes it to fly open at the bottom so as to form a circle, 

* 'AXtsvTiKa SiisTva. Diod. Sic. xvii. 43. p. 193, Wessel. 



NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 449 

which is loaded at intervals with stones or pieces of lead, and 
this circle " strikes the broad river* :" for the casting-net is used 
either in pools of moderate depth, or in rivers which have, like 
pools, a broad smooth surface ; whereas the sean is employed 
for fishing in the deep (pelago)i. 

Isidore of Seville, in his account of the different kinds of nets 
(Orig. xix. 5), thus speaks :'" Funda genus est piscatorii retis, 
dicta ab eo, quod in fundum mittatur. Eadem etiam a jactan- 
&o jaculum dicitur. Plautus : 

Probus quidem antea jaculator erasf." 

Besides the passage of Plautus, here quoted by Isidore, there 
are two others, in which the casting-net is mentioned under 
the name of rete jaculum, viz. Asinar. 1. i. 87, and True 1. i. 
14. Pareus, as we find from his Lexicon Plautinum, clearly 
understood the meaning of the term, and the distinction be- 
tween the casting-net and the sean. Of the Rete jaculum he 
says, " Sic dicitur ad differentiam verriculi, quod non jacitur, 
sed trahitur et verritur." He adds, that Herodotus calls it 
&jjLfii3\r)(rTpov, and the Germans Wurffgarn. 

The word occurs twice in Herodotus, and both places throw 
light upon its meaning. In Book i. c. 141. he says : " The 



* The Arabs now employ the casting-net on the shores of the Arabian Gulf. 
" Its form is round, and loaded at the lower part with small pieces of lead ; and, 
when the fisherman approaches a shoal of fish, his art consists in throwing the 
net so that it may expand itself in a circular form before it reaches the surface 
of the water." — Wellsted's Travels in Arabia, vol. ii. p. 148. 

t For a technical account of nets, including the casting-net as now made, the 
reader is referred to the Hon. and Rev. Charles Bathurst's Notes on Nets; or the 
Quincunx practically considered, London, 1837, 12mo. Duhamel wrote on the 
same subject in French. 

t Jaculator corresponds to the Greek d^iffoXevs. 

Ausonius, in the following lines, which refer to the methods of fishing in the vi- 
cinity of the Garonne, appears to distinguish between the jaculum and the funda. 
Piscandi traheris studio ? nam tota supellex 
Dumnotoni tales solita est ostendere gazas : 
Nodosas vestes animantum Nerinorum, 
Et jacula, et fundas, et nomina villica lini, 
Colaque, et indutos terrenis vermibus hamos. 

Epist. iv. 51-55. 

57 



450 MANUFACTURE AND USE OP 

Lydians had no sooner been brought into subjection by the 
Persians than the Ionians and iEolians sent ambassadors to 
Cyrus at Sardis, entreating him to receive them under his do- 
minion on the same conditions on which they had been under 
Croesus. To this proposal he replied in the following fable. A 
piper, having seen some fishes in the sea, played for a while 
on his pipe, thinking that this would make them come to 
him on the land. Perceiving the fallacy of this expectation, 
he took a casting-net, and, having thrown it around a great 
number of the fishes, he drew them out of the water. He 
then said to the fishes, as they were jumping about, As you did 
not choose to dance out of the water, when I played to you on 
my pipe, you may put a stop to your dancing now? The 
other passage (ii. 95) has been illustrated in a very successful 
manner by William Spence, Esq., F. R. S., in a paper in the 
Transactions of the Entomological Society for the year 1834. 
In connection with the curious fact, that the common house-fly 
will not in general pass through the meshes of a net, Mr. 
Spence produces this passage, in which Herodotus states, that 
the fishermen who lived about the marshes of Egypt, being 
each in possession of a casting-net, and using it in the day- 
time to catch fishes, employed these nets in the night to keep 
off the gnats, by which that country is infested. The casting- 
net was fixed so as to encircle the bed, on which the fisherman 
slept ; and, as this kind of net is always pear-shaped, or of a 
conical form, it is evident that nothing could be better adapted 
to the purpose, as it would be suspended like a tent over the 
body of its owner. In this passage Herodotus twice uses the 
term d/ifiPX^Tpov, and once he calls the same thing Kktvov, because, 
as we have seen, this was a common term applicable to nets of 
every description*. 

The antiquity of the casting-net among the Greeks appears 



* None of the commentators appear to have understood these passages. In 
particular we find that Schweighauser in his Lexicon Herodoteum explains 
'Ai*(pil3\r)<TTpov thus : " Verriculum, Rete quod circumjicitur." Rete, however, 
corresponds to Sixnioy, which meant a net of any kind ; and Verriculum is the 
Latin for Eayfivrj, which, as will be shown hereafter, was a sean, or drag-net. 



NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 451 

from a passage in the Shield of Hercules, attributed to Hesiod 
(1. 213-215). The poet says, that the shield represented the sea 
with fishes seen in the water, " and on the rocks sat a fisherman 
watching, and he held in his hands a casting-net {d^Wh,a T pov) 
for fishes, and seemed to be throwing it from him." "We appre- 
hend that, the position of sitting was not so suitable to the use 
of the casting-net as standing, because it requires the free use 
of the arms, which a man cannot well have when he sits. In 
other respects this description exactly agrees with the use of the 
casting-net : for it is thrown by a single person, who remains on 
land at the edge of the water, observes the fishes in it, and 
throws the net from him into the water so as suddenly to in- 
close them. 

In two of the tragedies of iEschylus we find the term d^x^rpov 
applied figuratively by Clytemnestra to the shawl, in which 
she enveloped her husband in order to murder him. 

"A.-rrstpop dji(pil3\ri(TTpov, oia-rrsp i^dvuiv, 

irepicTixifa, it\ovtov e'ifiaTo; kclkSv. — Agamem. 1353, 1354. 

M-ijivnao S\ ajjL<j>i0\riaTpov us tKaivumv. — Choeph. 485. 

Lycophron (1. 1101) calls this garment by the same name, 
when he refers to the same event in the fabulous history of 
Greece. We have seen, that in other passages the shawl so 
used is with equal aptitude called a purse-net (fy™?). 

One of the comedies of Menander was entitled 'kiitXa " the 
Fisherman." The expression, 'A/'^Xfarpo) mpiffdWeTai, is quoted 
from it by Julius Pollus (x. 132)f. 

Athen^us (lib. x. 72. p. 450 c. Casaub.) quotes from Antiph- 
anes the following line, which describes a man " throwing a 
casting-net on many fishes" : 

'IvQvtiv i[L^ili\i]i!Tpov avrip iroWoTs ZTTiffaWiOV. 

In an epigram of Leonidas Tarentinus we find the casting- 
net called dn(j>i/3o\av instead of dpfi8\wrpov , \. 

The dji<pii3\r,crpov is mentioned together with two other kinds of 
nets by Artemidorus, and which will be quoted presently. 



* Menandri et Phil. Reliquce, a Meineke, p. 16. 

t Brunck, Anal i. 223, No. xii. Jacobs, Anthol. i. 2. p. 74. 



452 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF 

The following curious passage of Meletius de Natura Homi- 
nis, in which that author, probably following Galen, describes 
the expansion of the optic nerves, mentions the casting-net as 
" an instrument used by fishermen" : 

Aicto-^rfoirai Si ru vsvpa ets tov; BaXd/iOVS) &<nrep ¥iv «£ Xa/?a>!> irairvpov, Tairrjv £i's 
Xeirra SiarejitJiv Kal Siaa^i^tav dvourXSicriTai -naKtv, /cat iroirj %it6)vu Xayofxevov d^i/?X>;cr- 
TpoetSr], SjjLOiov d/Kpt/SXripTpa. Spyavov Si tovto 8t]pcVTats i%6v<i>v ^pijcri//oi>. — SalmasillS, 
in Terlull. de Pallio, p. 213. 

The %£rd»v diupiffXtiarpoeiSfis, or tunica retina, was so called on 
account of its resemblance in form to the casting-net. 

As we learn from Herodotus that the casting-net was univer- 
sally employed by the fishermen of Egypt, we shall not be 
surprised to find it mentioned in the Alexandrine, or, as it is 
commonly called, the Septuagint version of the Psalms and 
Prophets : — 

Tlecovvrai h dp<pi0\fi<rTpci) airov a^aprtoXui, 
i. e. " Sinners shall fall in his casting-net." — Psalm cxli. 10. 
Cadent in retiaculo ejus peccatores. — Vulgate Version. 
" Let the wicked fall in their own nets." — Common English Version. 

The word in the original Hebrew is iiaaa, which Gesenius 
translates "Rete," a net. This word must have been more 
general in its meaning than the Greek i^'SMarpov, and included 
the purse-net, or fy™;. The Chaldee and Syriac versions use in 
this passage a word, which denotes snares in general. See 
Isaiah li. 20, where the same word is used in the Hebrew, but 
applied to the catching of a quadruped, and where consequently 
the purse-net must have been intended. 

Kai oi fidWovTS; aayfjvas, Kal ot an<pi/3o\us TrzvQfioovai. 
i. e. " And they who throw seans, and they who fish with the casting-net, 
shall mourn." — Isa. xix. 8. 

Et expandentes rete super faciem aquarum emarcescent. — Vulgate Version. 
ie And they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish." — Common Eng- 
lish Version. 

It is to be observed, that this prophecy relates to Egypt. The 
Hebrew verb una, here translated " expandentes" " they that 
spread? is exactly applicable to the remarkable expansion of 
the casting-net just as it reaches the surface of the water. In 



NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 453 

the Alexandrine version we may also observe the clear distinc- 
tion between the two principal kinds of nets, the sean and the 
casting-net, and that the man who fishes with the latter is called 
dufiSoXsvs, as in Latin he was designated by the single term 
jaculator. 

ErX/ct>o-£v avrop Iv dpQifiXrjaoa, Kal cvvfiycv avrov iv tolls oayfjvais avrov' IviKtv tovtov 
cvLppandfiaSTai Kal %apfiasrai t] KapSla avrov. "Evskev tovtov Bvaci rrj oayf\vri avrov } Kal 
Bvpiiaati r<3 djxipi/lXfio-Tptp avrov, Stl iv avroTg e\iirave uepiSa avrov Kal ra (ipojjxara avrov 
ExXwra. Aid tovto hji<pL/3a\BT to dp.<pi@\riixTpov avrov, Kal Siaxavrd; airoKrivnv idvrt ov 
ipsiazTai. 

i. e. • " He (the Chaldean) hath drawn him in a casting-net and gathered him 
in his seans : therefore his heart shall rejoice and be glad. Therefore he shall 
sacrifice to his sean and burn incense to his casting-net, because by them he hath 
fattened his portion and his chosen dainties. Therefore he shall throw his cast- 
ing-net, and not spare utterly to slay nations." — Habakkuk, i. 15-17. 

" They catch them in their net and gather them in their drag ; therefore they 
rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net and bum incense 
unto their drag : because by them their portion is fat and their meat plenteous. 
Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations ?" 
— Common English Version. 

The Latin Yulgate in this passage uses without discrimina- 
tion the terms rete and sagena, which latter is the Greek word 
in a Latin form. 

'Au.<pL(ftr,<7Tpov occurs twice in the New Testament. Matthew 
iv. 18 : " Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, 
Simon and Andrew, casting a net into the sea ; for they were 
fishers" : in the original, /SdWovras dn<pi(3\ria-Tpov ch tw ed\ao-aav ; in the 
Vulgate version, " mittentes rete." It appears no sufficient 
objection to the sense which has been assigned to A^WMaTpov, 
that here two persons are mentioned as using it at the same 
time. Being partners and engaged in the same employment, 
one perhaps collecting the fishes which the other caught, they 
might be described together as " throwing the casting-net," 
although only one at a time held it in his hands. In other 
respects this explanation is particularly suitable to the circum- 
stances. Jesus was walking on the shore and accosted the 
two brothers. This suits the supposition that they were on the 
shore likewise, and not fishing out of a boat, as they did with 
the sean at other times. In verse 20 the Evangelist uses the 
term Kktvo. (nets), saying " they left their nets," and meaning 



454 MANUFACTURE AND USE OP 

both their casting-net and those of other kinds. In verse 21 
he mentions that James and John were in their boat, mending 
their nets (<JiVrua). 

The same things are to be observed in Mark i. 16, which is 
the parallel passage. 

IV. 

rpi$os, or rpmoE. 

Pursuing the order adopted by Oppian in his list of fishing 
nets above quoted, we come to the Tpi<j>o S . What kind of net 
this was we have been unable to discover. It must, however, 
have been one of the most useful and important kinds, because 
Plutarch mentions yptyot K ai aaytvai as the common implements of 
the fisherman*, and Artemidorus speaks of this together with 
the casting-net and the sean in similar termst. 

It may be observed, that Tpmcvs is used for a fisherman!, 
apparently equivalent to dXiMj§. We also find the expression 
Tpnzrjtti Tk X vri, meaning, " By the fisherman's artll". 



TAlTAMON. 

The third fishing-net in Oppian's enumeration is Tayyafiov. 
We find it once mentioned metaphorically, viz. by iEschylus, 
who calls an inextricable calamity, Tayyafiov arm^. In Schneider's 
edition of Oppian we find this note, " Rete ostreis capiendis 
esse annotavit Hesychius." Passow also in his Lexicon explains 
it as "a small round net for catching oysters." The reference 
to Hesychius is incorrect. If it was a net for catching oysters, 
which appears very doubtful, it may have been the net used by 
the Indians in the pearl-fishery**. 

* Hepl hBv/iiag, vol. v. p. 838, ed Steph. t L. ii. c. 14. 

t Jacobs, Anthol. vol. i. p. 186, Nos. 4 and 5. 

§ Theocrit. i. 39 ; iii. 26. || Brunck, Anal ii. 9, No. 14. 

IT Agam. 352. 

** Acyci ~M.cyaaBlvr]i dripcietrdai rfiv K6y^r]v airov SiKrvotai. Arrian, Indica, vol. i 
p. 525, ed. Blancardi. 



NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 455 

VI. 

'YnOXH. 

The i™x«, which is the fourth in Oppian's enumeration, was 
the landing-net, used merely to take fishes out of the water 
when they rose to the surface, or in similar circumstances to 
which it was adapted. It was made with a hoop (*»kXo S ) fastened 
to a pole, and was perhaps also provided with the means of 
closing the round aperture at the top*. 

Of the KdXvppa we find nowhere any further mention. 

VIL 

TRAGUM, TRAGULA, VERRICTJLUM. 

SArHNH. 

These were the Greek and Latin names for the sean. 
Before producing the passages in which they occur, we will 
present to the reader an account of this kind of net as now 
used by the fishermen on the coast of Cornwall (England) for 
catching pilchards, and as described by Dr. Paris in his elegant 
and pleasant Guide to Mounts Bay and Land's End\. 

" At the proper season men are stationed on the cliffs to 
observe by the color of the water where the shoals of pilchards 
are to be found. The sean is carried out in a boat, and thrown 
into the sea by two men with such dexterity, that in less than 
four minutes the fish are inclosed. It is then either moored, or, 
where the shore is sandy and shelving, it is drawn into more 
shallow water. After this the fish are bailed into boats and 
carried to shore. A sean is frequently three hundred fathoms 
long, and seventeen deep. The bottom of the net is kept to 
the ground by leaden weights, whilst the corks keep the top of 
it fioatinsr on the surface. A sean has been known to inclose 
at one time as many as twelve hundred hogsheads, amounting 
to about three millions of fish." 



* See Oppian, Hal. iv. 251. t Penzance, 1816, p. 91 



456 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF 

Let this passage be compared with the following, which gives 
an account of the use of the same kind of net among the 
Arabs. It will then appear how extensively it is employed, 
since we find it used in exactly the same way both by our own 
countrymen and by tribes which we consider as ranking very 
low in the scale of civilization ; and on making this comparison, 
the inference will seem not unreasonable, that the ancient 
Greeks and Romans, who in several of their colonies in the 
Euxine Sea, on the coasts of Ionia, and of Spain, and in other 
places, carried on the catching and curing of fish with the 
greatest possible activity and to a wonderful extent, used nets of 
as great a compass as those which are here described. 

" The fishery is here (i. e. at Burka, on the eastern coast of 
Arabia) conducted on a grand scale, by means of nets many 
hundred fathoms in length, which are carried out by boats. 
The upper part is supported by small blocks of wood, formed 
from the light and buoyant branches of the date-palm, while 
the lower part is loaded with lead. To either extremity of this 
a rope is attached, by which, when the whole of the net is laid 
out, about thirty or forty men drag it towards the shore. The 
quantity thus secured is enormous ; and what they do not re- 
quire for their own consumption is salted and carried into the 
interior. When, as is very generally the case, the nets are the 
common property of the whole village, they divide the prod- 
uce into equal shares*." 

That this method of fishing was practised by the Egyptians 
from a remote antiquity appears from the remaining monu- 
ments. The paintings on the tombs show persons engaged in 
drawing the sean, which has floats along its upper margin and 
leads along the lower bordert. An ancient Egyptian net, ob- 
tained by M. Passalacqua, is preserved in the Museum at Ber- 

* Lieutenant Wellsted's Travels in Arabia, vol. i. (Ornam), pp. 186, 187. 

t See Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of Ancient Egypt, vol. ii. p. 20, 21 ; 
see also vol. iii. p. 37. One of these paintings, copied from Wilkinson, is intro- 
duced in Plate X. fig. 3. of this work. The fishermen are seen on the shore 
drawing the net to land full of fishes. There are eight floats along the top, and 
four leads at the bottom on each side. The water is drawn as is usual in Egyp- 
tian paintings. 



NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 457 

lin. Some of its leads and floats remain, as well as a gourd, 
which assisted the floats*. 

Besides the verses of Oppian, which are above quoted, we 
find another passage of the same poem (Hal. hi. 82, 83), 
which mentions the following appendages to the <myiw, viz. the 
Tsfdi, the ofaipSvss, and the moXids irdvaypos. As the m5fc, or feet of a 
sail were the ropes fastened to its lower corners, we may con- 
clude that the **J« were the ropes attached to the corners of the 
sean, and used in a similar manner to fasten it to the shore and 
to draw it in to the land, as is described by Ovid in the line 
already quoted, — 

Hos cava contento retia fune trahunt. 

The captives, as the name implies, were spherical, and must 
therefore have been either the floats of wood or cork at the top, 
or the weights, consisting either of round stones or pieces of 
lead, at the bottom. The <r K0 \id S ndvaypos must have been a kind 
of bag formed in the sean to receive the fishes, and thus cor- 
responding to the purse or conical bag in the fynw. The term 
is illustrated by the application of the equivalent epithet iynvia 
or " angular," to hunting-nets in a passage from Brunck's Ana- 
lecta, which was formerly explained, and by the epithet " cava" 
in the line just quoted from Ovidt. 

In the following passage Ovid mentions the use both of the 
corks and of the leadst This passage also shows that several 
nets were fastened together in order to form a long sean : 

Aspicis, ut siimma cortex levis innatat unda, 
Cum grave nexa simul retia mergat onus? 

Trist. iii. 4. 1, 12. 

This use of cork and lead in fishing is also mentioned by 
.Mian, Hist. Anim. xii. 43 ; and that of cork by Pausanias, 



* Un filet de peche a petites mailles, et fait avec du fil de lin. Cet objet, qui est 
garni de ses plombs, conserve encore les morceaux de bois qui garnissaient sa par- 
tie supeneure, ainsi que un courge qui l'aidait a surnager. — Thebes. Passalacqua, 
Catalogue des Antiquities decouvertes en Egypte, No. 445. p. 22. 

t Observe also the use of the word p^oy in the passage of Lucian's Timon, 
quoted below. 

t MolipSaivai, J. Pollux, x. 30. § 132. 

58 



458 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF 

viii. 12. § 1 ; and by Pliny, H. N. xvi. 8. s. 13, where, in reci- 
ting the various uses of cork, he says it was employed " pis- 
cantium tragulis." Sidonius Apollinaris, describing his own 
villa, says : — 

Hinc jam spectabis, ut promoveat alnum piscator in pelagus, ut stataria retia 
suberinis corticibus extendat. — Epist. ii. 2. 

" Hence you will see how the fisherman moves forward his boat into the deep 
water, that he may extend his stationary nets by means of corks." 

Alciphron, in his account of a fishing excursion near the 
Promontory of Phalerum, says, " The draught of fishes was 
so great as almost to submerge the corks*." The earnest de- 
sire of a posterity, founded on the wish for posthumous remem- 
brance, which was a very strong and prevailing sentiment 
among the ancients, is illustrated by the language of Electra 
in the Choephorce of iEschylus, where she entreats her father 
upon this consideration to attend to her prayer, and likens his 
memory to a net, which his children, like corks, would save 
from disappearing : — " Do not extinguish the race of the Pe- 
lopidce. For thus you will live after you are dead. For a 
marts children are the preservers of his fame when dead, 
and, like corks in dragging the net, they save the flaxen 
string from the abyss." The use of the corks is mentioned 
in several of the epigrams of the Greek Anthology, already re- 
ferred to, and in the following passage of Plutarch : — 

"Qairep Toii; tol Hktvo. StaarijialvovTas kv tti Qtxkaacri <pcX\ov; dpdp.sv eirnpepofiivovs. — Ds 
Genio Socratis, p. 1050, ed Steph. 

Passages have been already produced from Plutarch, Artemi- 
dorus, and the Alexandrine version of Isaiah and Habakkuk, 
in which the sean is mentioned by its Greek name crayfiw, in 
contradistinction to other kinds of nets. Also the passage 
above cited from Virgil's Georgics (" pelagoque alius trahit hu- 
mida Una"), indicates the use of the sean in deep water, and 
the practice of dragging it out of the water by means of ropes, 
which gave origin both to its English name, the Drag-net, 
and to its Latin appellations, tragula, used by Pliny (I. c.), 

* Mmpov km tovs ipcWois e<5£ij<7e Karatripai v(j>a\ov to Siktvov lloyKoijiivov. — Epist. i. 1. 



NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 459 

and tragum, which is found in the ancient Glossaries and in 
Isidore of Seville*. 

We find mention of the sean more especially for the capture 
of the tunny and of the pelamys, which were the two prin- 
cipal kinds of fish caught in the Mediterranean. Lucian speaks 
of the tunny-seant, which was probably the largest net of the 
kind, and he relates the circumstance of a tunny escaping from 
its bag or bosom*. The sean is thrice mentioned in the Epistles 
of Alciphron (L c. and lib. i. epp. 17, 18.), and in the two lat- 
ter passages, as used for catching tunnies and pelamides. We 
read also of a dolphin (fcXf«) approaching the sean§ ; but this 
might be by accident. It was not, we apprehend, employed to 
catch dolphins. 

In the following passage of the Odyssey (xxii. 384-387) we 
have a description of the use of a sean in a small bay, having 
a sandy shore at its extremity, and consequently most suitable 
for the employment of this kind of net : 

"£2<7r' i%dvas, ova-9' aXifies 
KoiXov ej aiyia\ov no\ifjs txrocde da\doarris 
AiKTvM i^epvirav no\vonrw' 01 &s t£ -kolvtes 
K5//U0' a\os iroQiovres lirl xpafiadoiai Ks^vvrai. 

The poet here compares Penelope's suitors, who lie slain upon 
the ground, to fishes, " which the fishermen by means of a net 



* Tragum genus retis, ab eo quod trahatur nuncupatum : ipsum est et verricu- 
Ium. Verrere enim trahere est. — Orig. xix. 5. 

The Latin name verriculum occurs in a passage of Valerius Maximus, which 
is also remarkable for a reference to the Ionian fisheries, and for the use of the 
word jactus, literally, a throw, corresponding to that which the Cornish men de- 
nominate, a hawl offish. 

A piscatoribus in Milesia regione verriculum trahentibus quidam j actum emerat. 
— Memor. lib. iv. cap. 1. 

We introduce here an expression of Philo, in which we may remark that P6- 
Xoj ixOiuv corresponds exactly to jactus in Latin, and that the drawing of the net 
into a circle is clearly indicated : jS6\ov t'^Qiiui/ Travras h kwXoj aayrivtiaoi. — Vita 
Mosis, torn. ii. p. 95. ed. Mangey. 

t Eayiji')/ dvwevTiKfi. — Epist. Saturn, torn. iii. p. 406. ed. Reitz. 

t '0 Bvvvo; tie fiw^oS Ttj; aayf\vr\i iikfvysv. — Timon, § 22. torn. i. p. 136. 

§ Out In n\ricriat;u rrj cayf/vy. — JElian, H. A. xi. c. 12. In this chapter the 
same net is twice called by the common name, SUtvov. 



460 MANUFACTURE AND USE OP 

full of holes have drawn out of the hoary sea to a hollow bay, 
and all of which, deprived of the waves of the sea, are poured 
upon the sands." Although the general term SUtvov is here 
used, it is evident that the net intended was the sean, or drag- 
net. 

In one of the passages of Alciphron already referred to, 
mention is made of the use of the sean in a similar situation. 
Some persons, who are fishing in a bay for tunnies and pela- 
mides, inclose nearly the whole bay with their sean, expecting 
to catch a very large quantity*. This circumstance proves, that 
the sean was used with the ancient Greeks, as it is with us, to 
encompass a great extent of water. 

We have seen that the sean supplied figures of speech no less 
than the purse-net (fym), and the casting-net (dpupipknorpov). It is 
applied thus in the case of persons who are ensnared by the 



* Tj? trayrjvji /iovovov^i tov koXttov o\ov ■mpisXaPojitv. — Epist. i. 17. 

A few miscellaneous passages, which refer to the use of the sean, may be con- 
veniently introduced here : 

Diogenes, seeing a great number of fishes in the deep, says there is need of a 
sean to catch them; aayhvris Sctjcns. — Lucian, Piscata, § 51. torn. i. p. 618, ed. 
Reitz. 

The sean is called, from its material, aayrivaiov \ivov, in an epigram of Archias. 
— Brunck, Anal. ii. 94. No. 10. 

Plutarch, describing the spider's web, says, that its weaving is like the labor 
of women at the loom, its hunting like that of fishermen with the sean. — De So- 
lertia Animalium, tom^x. p. 29, ed. Reiske. He here uses the term aayrivevrrn 
for a fisher with the sean. This verbal, noun is regularly formed from oayrivcveiv, 
which means to inclose or catch with the sean : e. g. iv Hktvoi; <staa.yr\vtvp.ivai. — 
Herodian, iv. 9, 12. 

Lucian uses the same verb in reference to the story of Vulcan inclosing Mars 
and Venus in a net ; aayovevci toTs fao-poTs. — Dialogi Deor. torn. i. p. 243. Som~ 
nium, torn. ii. p. 707, ed. Reitz. 

Leonidas of Tarentum, in an epigram enumerating the ornaments of a lady's 
toilet (Brunck, Anal. i. p. 221), mentions d nXariis rpt^av aayr/vevrfip. Jacobs 
(Annot. in Anthol. i. 2. p. 63) supposes this to mean the lady's comb ; but, judg- 
ing from the known meaning of aayfjvr] and its derivatives, we may conclude that 
it was the KEKpi(pa\os, or net, which inclosed and encircled the hair, like a sean. 

The following verse of Manilius (lib. v. ver. 678.) is remarkable as a rare in- 
stance of the adoption of the Greek word sagena by a Latin poet : — 
Excipitur vasta circumvallata sagena. 



NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 461 

wicked*, who are captivated by the charms of lovef or of elo- 
quence}:, or who are held in bondage by superstition?. But 
by far the most distinct, expressive and important of its meta- 
phorical applications, was to the mode of besieging a city by 
encircling it with one uninterrupted line of soldiers, or sweeping 
away the entire population of a certain district by marching in 
similar order across it. Of this the first example occurs in 
Herodotus iii. 145 : — 

xr/v 61 ijfyoi' aayrivtvaavTCs ol Tiipaai napiSoaav EoXtxruvn, Iptj/xov tovtrav dvSpSv. 
" The Persians, having dragged Samos, delivered it, being now destitute of 
men, to Solyson." 

As we speak of dragging a pit, so the Greeks would have 
spoken, in this metaphorical sense, of dragging an island. 
In the sixth book (ch. xxxi.) Herodotus particularly describes 
this method of capturing the enemy. According to this account 
the Persians landed on the northern side of the island. They 
then took hold of one another's hands so as to form a long line, 
and thus linked together they walked across the island to the 
south side, so as to hunt out all the inhabitants. The historian 
here particularly mentions, that Chios, Lesbos, and Tenedos 
were reduced to captivity in this manner. It is recorded by 
Platoll, that Datis, in order to alarm the Athenians, against 
whom he was advancing at the head of the Persian army, 
spread a report that his soldiers, joining hand to hand, had 

* 'Layrivcvojiai npos alrwv. — Lucian, Timon, § 25. torn. i. p. 138, ed. Reitz. 
t Brunck, Anal. iii. 157. No. 32. Here the sean is called by the general term 
dinrvov, but the particular kind of net is indicated by the participle aaynvevQets. 

TbWe jxaOriTiiv, 
Ot Koapov y\vKSprj<n Qeov hr\aavTO oayxjvais, 

i. e. " A disciple of those who bound the world in the sweet seans of God." — 
Greg. Nazianz. ad Nemesium, torn. ii. p. 141, ed. Paris, 1630. (See Chap. Ill, 
p. 53.) 

§ Plutarch, evidently referring to the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, says, " The 
Jews on the Sabbath sitting down on coarse blankets (hv dyvapirToi;, literally, in 
iftaria, or blankets, which had not been fulled, or cleansed by the yva<j>evs), even 
when the enemy were setting the ladders to scale the walls, did not rise up, but 
remained, as if inclosed in one sean, namely, superstition, (wanrtp h o-ay^y^ia, ri? 
Seieiiaijiovla, avvSede/iivoi)." — Opp. torn. vi. De Superstit. p. 647, ed. Reiske. 

|| De Legibus, lib. iii. prope finem. 



462 MANUFACTURE AND USE OP 

taken all the Eretrians captive as in a sean. The reader is 
referred to the Notes of Wesseling and Valckenaer on Herod, 
iii. 149 for some passages, in which subsequent Greek authors 
have quoted Herodotus and Plato. We find wyrivsvdijvat, " to be 
dragged," used in the same manner by Heliodorus*. 

In addition to the passages of Isaiah and Habakkuk which 
mention the drag in opposition to the casting-net ; we find three 
references to the use of it in the prophecies of Ezekiel, viz. in 
Ezek. xxvi. 5. 14 ; xlvii. 10. The prophet, foretelling the 
destruction of Tyre, says it would become a place to dry seans 
upon, ipvyiids aayrivSv; " sicca tio sagenarum," Vulgate Version; 
" a place for the spreading of nets," Common English Version. 
The Hebrew term for a drag or sean is here Din. 

The only passage of the New Testament which makes 
express mention of the sean, is Matt. xiii. 47, 48 : " The king- 
dom of heaven is like unto a net (aayfivv) that was cast into the 
sea, and gathered of every kind ; which, when it was full, they 
drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, 
but cast the bad away." The casting-net, which can only 
inclose part of a very small shoal, would not have been adapted 
to the object of this parable. But we perceive the allusion 
intended by it to the great quantity and variety of fishes of 
every kind which are brought to the shore of the bay UiyiaUv) 
by the use of the drag. The Vulgate here retains the Greek 
word, translating sagena as in the above-cited passages of 
Habakkuk and Ezekiel. In John xxi. 6. 8. 11, the use of the 
sean is evidently intended to be described, although it is called 
four times by the common term Kktvov, which denoted either a 
sean, or a net of any other kind. It is in this passage trans- 
lated rete in the Latin Tulgate. 

The Greek oaytvr, having been adopted under the form sagena 
in the Latin Vulgate, this was changed into rezne by the Anglo- 
Saxonst, and their descendants, have still further abridged it 
into sean. In the south of England this word is also pro- 
nounced and spelt seine, as it is in French. We find in Bede's 

* Lib. vii. p. 304. ed. Commelini. 
t See Caedmon, p. 75. ed. Junii. 



NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 463 

Ecclesiastical History* a curious passage on the introduction of 
this kind of net into England. He says, " the people had as 
yet only learnt to catch eels with nets. Wilfrid caused them to 
collect together all their eel-nets, and to use them as a sean for 
catching fishes of all kinds." 

VIII. 

Reticulus or Reticulum. 

TYPrAGOS. 

In the ancient Glossaries we find ttpyaOos translated Reticulus 
and Reticulum : it meant, therefore, a small net. It was not 
a name for nets in general, nor did it denote any kind of hunt- 
ing-net or fishing-net, although the net indicated by this term 
might be used occasionally for catching animals as well as for 
other purposes. It was used, for example, in an island on the 
coast of India to catch tortoises, being set at the mouths of the 
caverns, which were the resort of those creaturesf. But the 
same term is applied to the nets which were used to carry 
pebbles and stones intended to be thrown from military engines}: ; 
and a similar contrivance was in common use for carrying 
loaves of bread §. Hence it is manifest that the yvpyaeos was 
often much like the nets in which the Jewish boys in our streets 
carry lemons, being inclosed at the mouth by a running string 
or noose. We may therefore translate yipyado^ "a bag-net," as 
it was made in the form of a bag. " To blow into a bag-net," 
ei's yipyadov <j>vaav, became a proverb, meaning to labor in vain. 
But this bag was often of much smaller dimensions, and of 
much finer materials, than in the instances already mentioned. 
From a passage of iEneas Tacticus (p. 54. ed. Orell.) we may 

* Page 294, ed. Wilkins. 

1" 'Ev il TavTr) rij vfja<>) Kai yvpyaOois aira; iSia; \iveiovaiv, airi Siktvuv Kadlsvres av- 
rovs Ttcpl to ot6jjlo.t<x riiv trpopaxw — Arrian, Per. Maris Eryth. p. 151. ed. Blan- 
cardi. 

t Athenseus, lib. v. § 43. p. 208, ed. Casaub. 

§ YipyaQov' oxtvog ir\eKTov, iv <p ff&Wovai tov aprov ol apTOK6iroi. — Hesych. 
Reticulum panis. — Hor. Sat. i. 1. 47. 



464 MANUFACTURE AND USE OF NETS BY THE ANCIENTS. 

infer that it was sometimes not larger than a purse for the 
pocket. Hence Aristotle* properly applies the term ytpyaBos to 
the small spherical or oval bag in which spiders deposit their 
eggs. Among the luxurious habits of the Sicilian praetor Verres, 
it is recorded, that he had a small and very fine linen net, filled 
with rose-leaves, "which ever and anon he gave his noset." 
This net was, no doubt, called yvpyados in Greek. 



* Aram. Hist. v. 27. Compare Apollodorus, Frag. xi. p. 454, ed. Heyne. 
t Reticulum ad nares sibi admovebat, tenuissimo lino, minutis maculis, plenum 
rosae. — Cic. in Verr. ii. 5. 11 



THE END. 



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